


Insurgent

by Laurawrzz



Series: Destiny/Memento Collection [9]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Adventure, Alien Invasion, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Destiny/Memento, F/M, Fluff, Gallifreyan Biology (Doctor Who), Gallifreyan Culture (Doctor Who), Gallifreyan Language (Doctor Who), Gen, Ghosts, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Married The Doctor/Rose Tyler, Multi, Parents Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Episode AU: s04e13 Journey's End, Romance, Smut, Tenth Doctor Angst, Tenth Doctor Era, Tenth Doctor Whump, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler Fluff, The Doctor (Doctor Who) Whump, Time Lord Telepathy (Doctor Who), Torture, Whump, Xenophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:02:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 24
Words: 69,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26814820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laurawrzz/pseuds/Laurawrzz
Summary: ‘For all of humanity’s faults, you have little things that make me happy – edible ball bearings, plastic instruments that you can use to pretend you’re in a rock band in the privacy of your own home – little things just to make your existence that little bit quirkier. There are bad things, but every species in the universe has its own problems, so don’t think you’re at all unique. The human race survive. You live and you thrive. You’re all determined to write your own little piece of history in time, despite the fact your lives are so short compared to a lot of species in the universe.  I’m proud to know you, I’m proud to have fallen in love with you, and I’m honoured that you even care about me. Yes, it’s scary at the moment, but as long as we don’t have loud arguments in corridors about how horrible your species is then we’re all going to be fine, got it?’~ ΘΣ ~With UNIT having faked his death, the Doctor goes undercover and is forced to lie to all of his friends in order to save Earth. But this time, his adversaries are quite literally out of his childhood nightmares, and his family are in the worst danger they’ve ever been - under severe threat from the xenophobic human race.
Relationships: Jack Harkness/Ianto Jones, Jack Harkness/Other(s), Martha Jones/Mickey Smith, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: Destiny/Memento Collection [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/268567
Comments: 38
Kudos: 21





	1. Dead Man Walking

**Author's Note:**

> Off we go again! Originally posted on FF.net in 2017, smartened up for AO3.
> 
> This is the ninth story in a series and the strands are coming together - if you haven't read anything before it you're probably gonna be looking at this like, 'whaaaat?'. In the interest of time saving, there are extended summaries in a doc located here https://tinyurl.com/y7hv38ty
> 
> This series is an unashamed epic TenRose continuing collection, that utilises every tiny tidbit of Who canon, both in the show and in its extended lore. It's also exceptionally whumpy and some smidgens of smut enroute. So if that isn't your thing, run awaaaay! :o
> 
> At the end of the previous story, Braxiatel disappeared and the TARDIS unexpectedly went on a flight due to a mysterious control disc. It crashed on Earth, where they discovered the Earth had been utterly decimated by alien invaders in the Doctor’s year-long absence. UNIT arrived and faked the Doctor’s death without warning, and carted him, Rose, and their two children off to a destination unknown, leaving everyone else to think he was murdered.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After his fake death, the Doctor wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings with Rose and his children. Back at Torchwood the team panic as to their fates.

Jack woke up with his usual gasp for air, and quickly focused to see a group of people standing over him – Ianto, Jackie, Gwen and Rhys.

Almost immediately he remembered what had happened, sitting up. 'We've got to stop them!'

'Jack!' Ianto said, kneeling down to hold him. 'What happened?'

'Where's Rose and my grandchildren?' Jackie wailed.

'They took them, they shot the Doctor and took them, all of them,' Jack gasped out, struggling to stand up. 'We've gotta go after them!'

'Who? They shot the Doctor!?' Gwen asked, terrified.

'Unit!' Jack replied, and pointed at the blood stain on the ground. Everyone gasped. 'This way!' he shouted, pointing in the direction the van had been.

'Jack!' Ianto shouted, grabbing him to stop him. 'This is stupid, you can't just …'

'They took them!' Jack almost screamed in Ianto's face. 'They've got him, Rose and the kids! They shot him, Yan!'

'I know, I'm sorry,' Ianto said quickly, not letting go. 'But he'll regenerate. And they didn't kill Rose or the kids - they're wanted for something. You can't just charge in. We need to think about this. We've got some time.'

Jack fell still, his steely expression faltering. Ianto was right. Of course he was right. He sagged, and thought again. 'Okay,' he said after a moment. 'We need to get everyone and the Tardis to the Tate's Torchwood and figure out something to save them.'

Everyone nodded and scattered to implement the plan as Jack looked at the direction the van had been. He could see tyre marks, and there was a path of smeared blood from the Doctor's body being dragged across the concrete.

After all they'd been through. After prison, slavery, running and hiding, being captured and nearly dying about seventy-eight times. One poxy little ambush had taken the Doctor and his family away.

'They won't get away with this. I'll find you,' Jack muttered to the blood trail, and ran back into the TARDIS.

* * *

The Doctor woke up, and was immediately amassed by an exceptionally potent headache. 

He groaned and opened his eyes without moving an inch, finding himself lying in a bed in completely unfamiliar surroundings. He blinked a few times, just about processing he was in some sort of bedroom.

For a while his eyes scanned the industrial-styled room in a daze. He was in a double bed that was comfortable, with a toilet en-suite, a sofa to the right, and a desk to the left. There were no windows, so although the room was perfectly adequate, there was something distinctly cell-like about it. He could see a few sets of clothes laid out on the sofa; male, female and child-sized, and bizarrely, four toothbrushes by the sink with washing products, and a collapsible baby-changing table stocked with nappies. He was also connected to a medical machine, which was registering his dual heartbeat with periodic beeps.

After a few minutes of just lying there trying to figure out what he was going to do, there was the sound of a keypad beeping and the door slid open. Immediately he felt the bond course through him, and he realised it was Rose.

‘Rose,’ he said as she ran to him, running a hand through his hair.

‘Hey, sleepyhead,’ she said, kissing him. ‘Have a nice nap?’

‘Nap?’ the Doctor repeated.

She giggled. ‘Yeah, sorry, not joke time, yeah? How are you feelin’?’

‘I have the ice cream headache from hell,’ he moaned.

‘Yeah, they said sorry about that,’ Rose told him. ‘They said if you needed any painkillers just ask.’

‘Pardon?’ he asked, and then had another thought. ‘Leah and Alex!’

‘They’re fine,’ Rose said quickly. ‘The Brigadier took them to the play area.’

‘... I’d really like you to start making sense at some point,’ the Doctor said, blinking a little more. ‘The Brigadier’s here? There’s a play area? Where are we?’

‘Unit,’ Rose replied. ‘Don’t ask me where exactly cos I have no idea.’

‘Unit?’ the Doctor repeated, alarmed. He tried to sit up, but his headache prevented that and he ended up falling back, closing his eyes again.

‘Don’t move, we’re safe,’ Rose insisted. ‘After you passed out we were all put onto a van and driven away from Jack and the others. I thought they were gonna kill us or somethin’, but a few hours later the Brigadier popped up and said it was all fine, they were savin’ us. Apparently they’ve been preparin’ for us for months.’ She gestured around the room. ‘And they made this room for us.’

‘Saving us from what?’

‘I dunno yet. They want to brief us when you’re ready.’

‘But they shot me,’ the Dvvvvvoctor said, confused. 

‘No, they didn’t, it was all fake,’ she said. ‘They said sorry for your clothes, they’ve bein’ washed, mended and brought back. Are you ready to get up?’

The Doctor groaned, closing his eyes. 

She kissed him again. ‘No, then. I’ll get some painkillers for ya.’

* * *

After the headache had receded somewhat, Rose had helped the Doctor get dressed into his freshly-laundered and mended clothes and took him to UNIT’s purposely-built play area, which was fairly small and had limited toys, but clearly a significant amount of effort had gone into it. There were some children there, and to the side he saw Leah and Alex, who were overjoyed to see him.

‘Daddy!’ Leah shrieked happily, running to him.

‘Bit less high-pitched?’ the Doctor asked, dropping to his haunches and kissing her forehead. ‘I’ve got a proper ice cream headache.’

‘Sorry,’ Leah said sincerely, hugging his neck along with Alex.

‘Are you two okay?’ the Doctor asked.

‘Yeah,’ Leah replied. ‘Do you know why we’re here yet?’

‘Nope, but we’re about to find out,’ the Doctor replied. ‘How are they treating you?’

‘Good!’ Leah said, still refusing to let go of him. ‘They gave us a banana milkshake each.’

The Doctor drew back, his eyes wide. ‘I want one of those.’

Leah giggled and ran off to retrieve her glass, and ran back to give it to her dad. He took a sip, and beamed.

‘Nesquik,’ he commented, and handed it back. Rose giggled from beside him. ‘We’ve got to go and talk to the Unit people. You gonna be okay here?’

‘Can’t I come?’ Leah asked quickly.

‘It’ll be boring. I’ll tell you what’s going on as soon as I know,’ the Doctor told her.

‘Okay,’ she said, perking up a bit as she kissed his cheek. ‘Bye bye.’

‘Bye,’ he said, finally managing to peel Alex off of him, whose eyes immediately filled up with tears. ‘We’ll be back in a bit.’

Alex nodded, and just stood there, staring up at his parents, looking so vulnerable. Rose swooped in to collect the both of the children in a hug. When she stood up, Alex still looked miserable.

‘Back in a bit,’ the Doctor promised them both. 

Leah nodded, taking her brother’s hand and leading him back into the play area. The Doctor and Rose left into the corridor, meeting a UNIT escort to take them to be briefed.

‘I always feel guilty when we leave him,’ Rose admitted.

‘Yeah,’ the Doctor muttered, running a hand through his hair. ‘C’mon.’

* * *

The Doctor and Rose were invited into the Headquarters, where rows of people were sitting tapping away at keyboards. They were escorted into a small briefing room, and were presented with food and drink before the woman who had taken them arrived along with the Brigadier.

‘General Sir Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart!’’ the Doctor said quickly, standing up with a massive grin on his face.

‘That’s the Brigadier to you,’ the Brigadier replied, shaking his hand. ‘It is good to see you again.’

‘I am Sergeant Magalin, but please, call me Louise,’ the woman said next, smiling. ‘I’m honoured to speak with you. I’ve read all of your files.’

‘Really?’ the Doctor asked, looking happy. ‘Which was your favourite? Sorry, nice to meet you,’ he said, shaking her hand too.

‘I’m very sorry for taking you and your family in such a forceful way.’

‘That’s okay, not like I haven’t been fake shot before,’ the Doctor said, shrugging slightly. ‘Though I would like to know why.’

‘I’m sorry for the cloak and dagger,’ she said as they sat down. ‘One month after you stopped coming to Earth, we were invaded by an alien race called the Gliek. We managed to - eventually - fight them off, but then another race came, then another, then another. We’ve been invaded six times in twelve months.’

‘I believe they’d got a whiff that you’d left Earth,’ the Brigadier said.

Louise nodded. ‘It’s been completely non-stop. Everyone is either dead or in hiding. Communications have ceased - we have no idea what is happening internationally, or even nationally. Food is scarce, and people are dying from the cold. We can only guess, but we assume the population has been decimated. They are calling this the apocalypse. We are completely powerless. The aliens kill who they please - there is no reasoning with them.’

‘Oh my god,’ Rose muttered. ‘What about Sarah?’

‘Sarah Jane is here,’ the Brigadier told them. ‘She and her associates were made safe two months into the first invasion.’

‘Where  _ is  _ here?’ the Doctor asked.

‘Mount Snowdon,’ Louise replied. ‘We’re shielded here. However, the current race – we just call them the invaders – are monitoring all communications. That is why Sarah Jane couldn’t pick up your call. But you gave us your location by that. We had operatives in every city, waiting for your arrival. We suspected that the invaders would be aware of your alien presence, so we had to get to you first. We used a drug that would limit your potency as an alien entity on a scanner. They would not have been able to trace you here.’

‘But why did you fake kill him?’ Rose wanted to know.

‘It is absolutely essential that everyone believes you have been killed,’ Louise replied. ‘The invaders may know that you can regenerate, and now they have no idea where you are or what you look like. Additionally, your children would have been traceable due to their alien DNA, so we brought them too, with their mother, of course, for your peace of mind. They can’t be detected here. I’m afraid we couldn’t bring your friends, it would have taken too long.’

‘You’ve clearly made a plan,’ the Doctor commented, chin in hand.

Louise suddenly looked a bit nervous. ‘Yes. Look, we know everything that happened to you as a result of Unit, Doctor. We are not them; we were never them. I know it’s absurd, and I know you have better things to do than save a race of people who hate you, but we beg you. Please stop the invaders.’

Rose looked at the Doctor. He was grinning.

‘Can’t survive a year without me,’ he said, laughing. ‘Yeah, I’ll stop ‘em. Who are these invaders?’

Louise smiled and shook her head. ‘As soon as you feel well enough then I will explain more to you. Consider yourself having completely free range of the base, just don’t go outside. We’ve have a play area for children, and the quarters you are in are designed specifically to meet your needs. I’m afraid we don’t have much space though, so Leah and Alex will be in with you. If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.’

‘Well enough? I’m fine,’ the Doctor insisted. Rose elbowed him. ‘Ow! What?’

‘Your leg,’ she told him firmly. ‘You got shot, remember?’

‘It’s fine.’

Rose glared at him for an uncomfortable amount of time.

He withered slightly. ‘Okay, okay. But you’ll need to talk to Jack,’ he told Louise and the Brigadier.

‘Why?’ Louise asked, frowning.

‘Because for starters, he’s now got Kiana, who has gallifreyan DNA, and therefore scannable if she is taken out of the Tardis. Then there’s the issue that he’s going to come after us, and he’s probably going to wave a gun around in the process. A lot. He’ll be a live wire.’

Louise stiffened slightly. ‘But … nobody can know you’re alive.’

‘What about me?’ Rose asked. ‘I can talk to him. I won’t mention anythin’, I’ll just tell him to keep Kiana safe and not come after us. I’ll say you’re threatenin’ us or somethin’.’

‘But the invaders will see the communication …’

‘No, wait, we could use that,’ the Doctor said. ‘Say something like I’ve regenerated but I’m very sick, and they’re taking me somewhere. He can’t follow that way. Then Unit can use absolutely everything they can to keep the message secret, so it looks to them like Unit tried. If they see the communication you’ll send them on a wild goose chase. If not, you’re still keeping Jack at bay.’

There was a brief pause as they all considered that, nodding approvingly.

‘Excellent plan,’ the Brigadier finally commented. ‘Shall we get to work?’

* * *

Rose was sitting in a room with a video camera pointed at her, ready to link up with Torchwood Tate. The Brigadier, Louise and a handful of UNIT operatives were all standing behind the camera, waiting for the connection to be established. The Doctor was handcuffing her to the chair to make it look a bit more genuine. 

‘I’m nervous,’ Rose suddenly admitted, looking at the Doctor.

‘It’s fine, just go through what we rehearsed,’ the Doctor told her.

‘But we’re lyin’ to Jack.’

‘I know, but it’s for his own sake,’ the Doctor replied. ‘He’ll understand.’

‘But it’s not just him, it’s my mum; it’s everyone. Everyone’ll think you’re dead and that me and the kids are in danger.’

‘I know,’ the Doctor said again. ‘We’ll make it up to them. They’ll get it.’

She pulled a face. ‘Yeah, maybe.’

He paused, gazing at her. ‘You should probably be crying.’ 

‘I’m too tense to cry,’ she said.

He considered that, and then suddenly seemed to change the subject. ‘Aww, do you remember when we finally got to Barcelona? The planet, I mean.’

Rose frowned, confused. ‘Yeah ... why?’

‘And the dogs could talk too, and they were so cute,’ the Doctor continued. ‘But they were being wiped out by a plague. Do you remember that, Rose?’

Rose’s eyes widened as she realised what he was doing. ‘No. Shut up. No.’

‘And the colony of Jack Russells that had just all died …’

Her eyes began to well up. ‘Shut up!’ she said seriously.

‘And do you remember that golden retriever puppy who asked us to save his puppy friend, but his friend was almost dead? Do you remember that, Rose?’

‘I said shut up!’ she yelped, trying to resist the tears, but it wasn’t working.

‘Remember the dying puppy? Those big brown eyes gazing up at us?’

‘Stop talkin’ about dyin’ puppies!’ she said, crying now.

‘The way he twitched, whimpered and quietly died? Remember, Rose? Remember the dead puppy?’

‘Doctor!’

He grinned. ‘Sorry,’ he replied sincerely.

‘Live in ten,’ one of the UNIT mechanics said. 

The Doctor quickly got up and limped behind the camera. ‘Okay?’ he checked.

‘Yeah. But you’re dead.’

The Doctor shrugged half-heartedly, clearly trying not to smile.

‘Five, four, three, two …’

The UNIT operative trailed off, and two seconds later the screen in front of her turned on, where suddenly she could see the interior of an old-looking metal structure, looking a lot like the Torchwood in Cardiff did. There was no one there.

‘Jack!’ she called. ‘Jack, it’s me!’

Seconds later, Jack’s face appeared, looking both terrified and relieved at the same time.  _ ‘Rose! What the hell’s going on? Where’s the Doctor, is he okay?’ _

Rose sniffed back her puppy-induced tears. ‘They … They killed him, Jack. They just let him bleed to death.’

Jack’s eyes widened.  _ ‘No!’ _

‘He regenerated but he got really sick. They took him away. I dunno where.’

_ ‘Where are you? I’m coming to get you, and I’m gonna kill ‘em.’ _

Rose shook her head quickly. ‘No, please don’t. They’ll kill us. Just stay there, please, and look after Kiana. If she goes out of the Tardis she’ll be detected by scanners.’

_ ‘She hasn’t been out. But I can’t just stay here. Where are you?’ _

‘I don’t know. But please don’t follow us. Please. They’re threatenin’ Alex and Leah if I don’t do what they say.’

_ ‘Fuck, okay. What does the Doctor look like now?’ _

Rose looked beyond the screen, falsifying it as a moment of grief. The Doctor shrugged.

‘I … I don't know, I just felt him die. They just said to make sure you knew not to follow us, yeah? Please don’t. Please. They’ll hurt Leah and Alex.  _ Please.’ _

Jack took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly before opening them again.  _ ‘Okay,’  _ he said. _ ‘But you can damn well tell them if they lay a finger on any of you, I’m gonna rip their throats out, I swear to God. And we’ll find him, Rose. They can hide him all they like, we’ll fucking find him.’ _

Rose nodded. ‘Oh, Jack …’ She paused briefly, looking at the Doctor, who was about to signal for the communication to be terminated. He stopped immediately. They hadn’t this bit. ‘Please … Please don’t tell my mum what’s goin’ on.’

Jack shook his head.  _ ‘I won’t.’ _

The Doctor signalled for the communication to be cut. 

One of the UNIT operatives terminated it immediately. ‘The invaders saw it,’ he told the crowd. 

‘Excellent,’ the Brigadier commented, nodding approvingly as the Doctor moved forward to release Rose from the restraints.

‘Sorry,’ she told him, still full of tears - only this time, they weren’t due to the puppies.

‘It’s okay,’ he replied. ‘I’d have done the same. And come on. We saved the rest of the puppies in the end.’

As soon as she was free, she hugged him tightly, and for a long time.

‘You’d better get yourself to the sick bay,’ the Brigadier said once they had finally parted.

The Doctor sighed. ‘Must I?’

The Brigadier smiled slightly. ‘There is someone there I think you will want to see.’


	2. Harry the Imbecile

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor reacquaints with an old friend, as Torchwood hatch a plan to find him and his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't know who Zak is, Echoes and Co-Consciousness are the places to be :)

‘Harry Sullivan!’

The Doctor’s shriek of delight seemed to echo off of the walls, almost deafening Rose. She struggled to see which person he was looking at until she spotted a man with grey, slightly-curly hair wearing a white doctor’s coat, standing next to Sarah Jane. At the Doctor’s shriek he turned, startled.

‘Oh! Hello, Doctor!’ Harry said happily, smiling. ‘Gosh, Sarah Jane said you were, but you really  _ are _ terribly young, aren’t you?’

‘Never mind that,’ the Doctor said, limping to him and hugging him as Rose and Sarah Jane greeted each other warmly. ‘How are you?’

‘As always,’ Harry responded, slightly startled. ‘It’s very good to see you, old boy.’

‘Aww,’ the Doctor said, grinning. ‘You’re just like I remember. All old boy and jolly good fellows. And Sarah!’ he enthused, turning to hug her too. She smiled and hugged him back.

‘Have you regenerated?’ she asked.

The Doctor nodded. ‘About a month ago.’

‘You found the memory, then.’

‘We did.’

‘What was it?’

The Doctor pulled a face. ‘Long story,’ he said.

Sarah Jane smiled. ‘It’s so good to see you.’

‘You too,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Where are Luke, Clyde and Rani?’

‘Unit base in Edinburgh,’ Sarah Jane replied. ‘Clyde and Rani’s parents are there. They’re safe. We have a messenger going back and forth. It’s too risky for video communication.’

‘What about Mr Smith?’

‘Still in Ealing. I shut him down so the invaders couldn’t detect him. I don’t know how he’s fairing,’ she admitted, looking a bit sad. ‘But that’s fine. At least everyone else is safe. K9 is here too.’

The Doctor nodded and looked at Harry again. ‘Sorry. Introductions.’ He gestured to Rose. ‘Rose Tyler, meet Harry Sullivan. Old companion of mine and the best sailor doctor this side of Stratos.’

Rose smiled and extended a hand. ‘Nice to meet you.’

‘Jolly nice to meet you too,’ Harry responded. ‘I have read all of your files. The idea of the Doctor having a wife certainly piqued my interest, I can tell you.’

Rose’s eyes widened. ‘I’ve got files? Great!’ she said happily, looking at the Doctor, who rolled his eyes.

‘Let’s take a look at that leg, shall we?’ Harry suggested, pointing at the Doctor’s now quite pronounced limp. ‘Take a seat on that bed behind there, old boy.’ He pointed to a screened-off bed. 

‘It’s fine,’ the Doctor dismissed. ‘Come on, tell me all about your life.’

‘I’ll tell you when you take your trousers off and sit on that bed, old boy.’

‘I bet you say that to all the sailors,’ the Doctor said, causing Sarah Jane and Rose to laugh. ‘Okay, okay. I’m doing it.’

* * *

The Brigadier stepped into the play area, awash with the shrieks of children. He spotted the Doctor’s children in a corner by themselves, fighting over a set of crayons. 

‘They’re mine! Give ‘em back!’ the girl demanded. The boy rapidly shook his head, using his entire body weight against her. The Brigadier announced his presence with a clearing of his throat, and the children both stopped, frozen like statues, before they looked up at him standing over them, big and imposing.

‘Who are you?’ the girl asked defensively.

‘I am the man who asked that you be brought here to safety. It is lovely to meet you, Miss Tyler,’ he greeted, extending a hand to the shocked little girl. She took it, more out of politeness’ sake, remaining bewildered. Her hand seemed to disappear in his. ‘And Mr Tyler,’ the Brigadier said next to the boy, shaking his even tinier hand too.

‘What have you done with my mummy and daddy?’ the girl wanted to know.

‘They are visiting the sick bay to get some treatment for his leg wound,’ he replied. ‘I’m afraid we had to take you from the Tardis for your own safety, but we hope you will be perfectly happy here for a while. If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask for me.’

Clearly the little girl had been ready for a fight, but she hadn’t got one, and it had put her off her stride a little. ‘Oh. Okay. Umm ... I’m Leah, and this is Alex,’ she said, gesturing to her little brother.

The Brigadier smiled. ‘I am known as the Brigadier to your parents, but please, call me Alastair,’ he said.

‘You know my mummy and daddy?’

He chuckled. ‘Well, your father more than your mother. I knew him long before he met your mother. Back when he had big teeth and big curly hair,’ he explained, doing the appropriate gestures. Both of the children giggled.

‘I saw that photo,’ Leah said, nodding happily. 

‘But I knew him long before that; though several bodies, in fact.’

Leah’s eyes widened, delighted. ‘D’you have a story?’

The Brigadier smiled. ‘Many,’ he replied, and took a seat.

* * *

‘What did you do to yourself this time?’ Sarah Jane moaned as Harry peeled back the bloody bandages to reveal the gunshot wound in the Doctor’s thigh. ‘You’ve only just regenerated!’

‘Rose got stuck inside my mind, I had to go to a criminal-infested planet to fix it, and an evil dictator shot me in the leg,’ he replied, sniffing and shrugging. 

‘Oh, just the usual, then,’ Sarah Jane joked. 

He beamed. ‘Harry, fill me in. Still a sailor doctor?’

Harry smiled, examining his leg. ‘No, Doctor. I joined Nato for a while, then I was in MI5, then I returned to Nato before going undercover for several years.’

‘You’re James Bond,’ Rose realised, grinning. Sarah Jane laughed, looking at Harry. Rose couldn’t help but noticed the look Sarah Jane was giving him. She hadn’t seen Sarah Jane’s eyes shine that brightly in a long time.

Harry chuckled. ‘For now, I’m a doctor,’ he said.

‘MI5? I’m impressed,’ the Doctor said. ‘They never seemed to like me that much, though.’

‘I’m afraid there is actually a policy that you should never be involved in the affairs of MI5,’ Harry told him.

‘Really? Why?’

‘MI5 are covert operations, old boy, and you are just too …’

‘Obvious?’ Rose suggested.

‘So sorry, yes,’ Harry admitted.

The Doctor sniffed. ‘I could be less obvious.’

‘But you won’t,’ Rose said, smirking, and then realised something. ‘God, I’d better check on Leah and Alex, it’s been a couple of hours. You guys have fun talkin’ about … what was it … Cybermen was your thing, right?’

‘Ooo, yes!’ the Doctor realised. ‘Mondas! Let’s talk about Mondas! Do you remember Harry, when you buried me under a rockslide and then nearly activated the bomb I had on me? Did I tell you that you were an imbecile?’

‘Oh, I believe you did, yes,’ Harry replied, looking a little embarrassed.

‘And do you remember that time when we were on Skaro, and …’

‘Bye!’ Rose interrupted, kissing his cheek.

‘Oh, bye!’ he acknowledged, and looked back at Harry. ‘Like I was saying …’

* * *

Rose arrived in the play area to find Leah and Alex sitting on the floor cross-legged in front of the Brigadier, who was sitting on a chair, his hands clasped together, clearly telling a story. Rose joined, just as he finished.

‘No!’ Leah protested. ‘Please, Alastair, please! Can we have more?’

‘I’m afraid I have business I must attend to,’ the Brigadier said. 

‘Will you come and see us again?’ Leah asked eagerly.

‘Of course,’ he replied, smiling and standing up, looking at Rose. ‘How is the Doctor?’

‘Overexcited,’ Rose replied, grinning.

‘I thought he might be,’ the Brigadier said. ‘Please, ask for me if you need anything at all.’

‘Thanks.’

The Brigadier left, and Rose stooped to her children. ‘Been havin’ fun?’

‘Alastair told us loads of stories about daddy!’ Leah enthused. ‘All about the Death Zone and the Daleks! Will I ever see the Daleks?’

Rose winced. ‘Hope not,’ she replied, and swiftly changed the subject. ‘Dad’s okay, he’s just gettin’ his leg bandaged up.’

‘Didja find out why we’re here?’

‘Yeah. There’s a huge invasion happenin’ on Earth right now, and they need your dad to help. They took us so they could keep us all safe.’

‘What about Uncle Jack and everyone else?’

‘Uncle Jack can look after himself,’ she replied. She still felt very guilty about lying to him, and tried not to dwell on it for too long. ‘They’ll be fine. Auntie Sarah Jane’s here with us too.’

‘Auntie Sarah Jane’s here?’ Leah repeated, happy. ‘Where are we?’

‘Mount Snowdon in Wales.’

‘Is that near Cardiff? Can we go see the mountain?’

‘Kinda. Ish. But you can’t go outside, yeah? Because you’ve got alien DNA so the bad people will find you. We’ll be safe in here.’

‘Oh yeah,’ Leah said, blushing a little. She’d clearly temporarily forgotten the alien threat.

Rose grinned at that. ‘But are you happy?’

‘Yeah!’ Leah enthused.

‘Have you played with the other kids?’ Rose asked, looking around at the other children in the playroom.

‘They’re all stupid,’ Leah said loudly. 

‘That’s not fair, you know you’re a bit smarter cos you’re gallifreyan so you’ve gotta be patient,’ Rose said quietly so no one overheard. 

‘Yeah,’ Leah replied absently, clearly not interested. ‘I miss Floppy.’

‘Oh yeah,’ Rose said, remembering Leah’s cuddly toy bunny rabbit. ‘Didn’t have time to get her, did we?’

‘No,’ Leah said sadly. ‘Do you think she’ll be okay?’

‘She’s in the Tardis, she’ll be fine.’

Leah sniffed. ‘Yeah,’ she said. 

* * *

Jack had been standing in Leah’s bedroom in the TARDIS, staring at Floppy lying limp in his hands for ten, long minutes. 

They’d managed to move the TARDIS with the help of a bit of elbow grease and an abandoned van, taking her to Torchwood Tate with most people still inside. The entrance to the abandoned Torchwood base had been fully locked down, but Ianto had managed to get it open using some old Torchwood protocols. 

It was almost exactly the same as Torchwood Three had been. Decidedly used and rusty, it was still stuck in 1970’s technology. This didn’t phase Ianto or Mickey, who were straight into the systems while Jack just found the nearest chair and collapsed into it, trying not to panic. It was then he’d received the communication from Rose. Ever since, he’d been pent up with nervous energy – at a loose end. He walked around Torchwood Tate; around the TARDIS; around the bedrooms of the Doctor and Rose, Leah and Alex. There he’d seen Floppy on the bed, and he’d been overcome with sadness. He’d had to visit Zak, then. 

The Doctor’s clone was still in an induced coma in the infirmary, with machines beeping periodically. By the head of the bed was all the scans the Doctor, Brax and Martha had done, which showed Zak’s broken bones now aligned. The worst of the bruises on him were much lighter than they had been, and the most vicious of cuts had scabbed over. The physical inflictions were healing, but there was no telling what the dictator’s torture had done to Zak on the inside. 

Jack set Floppy down on the side and fetched the equipment to give the injured man a wash and a shave. When he was done, Jack covered him back over and made him comfortable, before giving him a kiss. He then picked up Floppy again and sat beside Zak, brushing back his hair.

* * *

The Doctor finally arrived back in the playroom half an hour later, propped up on his crutch with Sarah Jane in tow. Leah ran to them immediately, looking up with a massive smile on her face.

‘Auntie Sarah Jane! Daddy!’ she said. ‘Alastair told us loads of stories about you!’

‘Oh dear,’ Sarah Jane said, looking at the Doctor.

The Doctor was intrigued. ‘Which ones?’ he wanted to know, then realised something. ‘Wait, you can call him Alastair? Why aren’t I allowed to call him Alastair?’

Leah giggled, hugging his leg just as Alex got there and took the other leg. ‘He says you need to learn some respect.’

Rose and Sarah Jane both snorted with laughter. The Doctor looked a little offended, thought for a moment, and shrugged. ‘Actually, he’s probably right,’ he conceded. ‘Has Mum filled you in?’ 

‘Yeah,’ Leah replied. 

‘Remember, don’t go outside,’ the Doctor said to them both. ‘Really, really important.’

Leah nodded. ‘Yeah, we know!’ she said, pulling back from him. ‘What plan are you making to save Earth?’

‘I’ve got next to nothing at the moment,’ the Doctor confessed.

‘You’ll think of something,’ Leah said positively. 

* * *

When Jack finally resigned to head back out to Torchwood, everyone was busy tidying the place up. The moment Gwen saw him she moved forward, noting the toy rabbit in his hands.

‘They’ll be fine,’ Gwen was saying. ‘If they wanted them dead, they’d already be dead.’

‘But they did, they killed the Doctor,’ Jack muttered. ‘All that work ... all for nothing. We worked on that for fucking  _ months  _ and they just  _ killed  _ him.’

Gwen rested a hand on his shoulder. ‘What’s done is done,’ she insisted. ‘We’ve got to have some sort of plan, Jack.’

‘We can’t. They’ve got Rose, they’ve got the kids,’ Jack replied, defeated. ‘The Tardis is completely undefended and God knows what the Doctor looks like now or how his regeneration went. They could be doing anything to him. We can’t do anything.’

‘Is this the part you wanted?’ Seth suddenly interrupted, holding out an extension cable to Ianto, who was nearby. Ianto nodded and took it before Seth moved to Jack. ‘This place is so weird,’ he confessed. ‘I’ve never seen technology like this before. When are we going to get the Doctor and Rose?’

Jack winced. ‘Listen, Rose just contacted me. The Doctor’s … well, he was shot and he’s regenerated.’

‘What’s that mean?’ Seth asked, wide-eyed. ‘That’s bad, right?’

‘Dunno if that’s the right word,’ Jack confessed.

‘He’s dead?’ 

‘No,’ Jack replied quickly. ‘Not dead. Time Lords have this thing called regeneration - when they die they can come back. Well, renew their cells and change their body. Rose said he’d done that and that Unit have taken him somewhere.’

‘Are these people that took them bad news?’

‘Yeah,’ Jack croaked.

‘So when are we getting them?’ Seth asked again.

‘We can’t,’ Jack muttered. ‘They’ve got Rose and the kids, and they’re threatening them.’

‘Why have they gotta know what we’re doing?’ Seth asked seriously. ‘If the Doctor, Rose and the kids are in trouble, we need to get them out.’

Jack looked at him. ‘You’ve got an idea ...?’

‘Sort of,’ Seth replied. ‘Gotta find out where they are first, though.’

‘We can narrow it down by distance and time,’ Ianto said, already at a computer. ‘It’s been six hours since they drove off, and whatever this alien race is, they’re watching the skies so Unit won’t be using planes. They also wouldn’t use trains; all the railways are out of commission. Assuming they’re not conforming to speed limits, Unit can only theoretically have driven them nationwide, and if they have a boat, Ireland and the northern regions of France.’

‘Well, that’s helpful, we’ll just search Europe, then,’ Jack said sarcastically, before checking himself and looking apologetically at Ianto. ‘Sorry.’

‘We’ll find them, Jack,’ Gwen insisted. ‘We will, and they’ll be fine. You know what they’re like.’

Jack sighed. ‘All right. Let’s just try and find out where the hell they are. Then we’ll work something out.’


	3. A Holiday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor’s family take a rare opportunity to relax as he heals, but Leah is having problems coping with the reality of her own gallifreyan biology in an alien-hating world. The Doctor has a proper conversation with his almost mute son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's tragic, but when I finally got around to doing a timeline of this series I realised something particularly weird. Since the beginning of Destiny, Rose has aged 6 years. The Doctor has aged 17 years. The TARDIS has aged 5 years. Leah has aged 4 years. Planet Earth has aged 6 1/2 years.
> 
> For Rose, since the beginning of Mother's Nature, she has only aged 6-7 months. That means everything that happened in Mother's Nature to now, has been 6-7 months of her life. 6-7 months! For the Doctor, it's been 12 years.
> 
> Time travel, huh. Who'd write it?

Harry had prescribed the Doctor ten days of recovery until he was allowed to save the planet, which the Doctor didn’t agree with, but he was hardly in the position to protest. So he’d resigned to the situation and let it happen. Harry had also gone to the effort to draw up a rehabilitation schedule for his leg, but the Doctor paid no attention to it. 

He and Rose spent the rest of the first day finding out as much about their temporary home as he could. From chats with the “locals”, he discovered the humans had been living in the base for a while, and as such had managed to turn it from a military base and into some sort of mini-town. The people UNIT had selected to be in the base were highly diverse – as well as a truckload of soldiers and other military personnel, there were many other professions to fill up the temporary mini-town. There was an internal currency and trade, with some hairdressers; restaurants; pubs; butchers; bakers; a school; a hospital; religious bases; and even a spa. There were at least 700 people in the base, and as Rose pointed out, was eerily familiar to the underground community of Sirrus. 

After lunch, he and Rose went to meet the UNIT refugee co-ordinator, who had already fashioned a life for them inside the community.

‘We have tried to make you look as human as possible,’ the coordinator explained. ‘Doctor, we have put you into the schedules for work at the hospital under the name Doctor John Smith, but you are currently marked as on leave due to being wounded in the field. Rose, you are on leave from working at the school while your husband is injured. This should give you two plenty of time to do what you need to do. As for Leah and Alex, we wondered if they might be enrolled in the school, but …’ He paused. ‘I think that’s dangerous. They will stick out from their age group due to their intelligence. So instead, a Unit ex-Physics lecturer has offered to give them private tuition to give them something more stimulating to do while they’re here, if that’s fine?’

The Doctor nodded in return. ‘Sounds good.’

‘We just don’t want to draw any attention to you, if possible,’ the coordinator writing something down. ‘Hatred for aliens is still rife, even here, and you are in danger if you are found out. We want to ensure you, Leah, and Alex are kept completely safe.’

‘Thank you,’ Rose said.

‘Your job positions also pay for all of your expenses,’ the coordinator explained, handing them each a white card. ‘You do not trade with currency, your “tab” pays for you. This includes meals, products, laundry, and childcare. Consider this as unlimited. Your room is also in a secure wing, and is soundproofed, so you may talk completely freely, and the door has a key code lock. The combination is 4833. There are cleaners on the wing twice a week, but they are aware of you. We also have allotted you personal communicators …’ He reached down and pulled out three black devices, handing them over. ‘You are able to communicate between yourselves and also directly to the Brigadier’s office. We would also like Leah and Alex to have one, so they can contact us immediately if there are any problems.’

‘You’ve really thought this through, haven’t you?’ the Doctor mused, looking at the communicator and keycard in his hands.

‘We’ve been preparing for your arrival for quite some time, so we believe we have everything covered to make your time here as comfortable and safe as possible,’ the coordinator replied. ‘You both have free-range of the base with Level One security clearance, but as I’m sure you’ve been told, do not go out. Our technology cannot shield alien biology if you step outside. Do you have any questions?’

The Doctor looked at Rose, who looked at him. They simultaneously shrugged.

The coordinator smiled. ‘Good. If you think of anything, let us know.’

* * *

Once out in the corridor, they looked at each other again.

‘So,’ Rose said. ‘Can’t go outside, and you’re off world-saving duty for a week.’

‘Boring,’ the Doctor muttered, pocketing the keycard.

‘Oh, come on. You realise that Mickey and Martha got married; your parents returned through some weird insect in your head; your dad tried to kill you; we got married, twice; we adopted Kiana; you had to go and sit in a cell for twelve years; you and Leah got clones; you destroyed the Proclamation; you rebuilt the Proclamation; you found your brother; Jimmy attacked us; Alex, Jack and Luke got abducted; we got abducted; you got exiled from Earth; you regenerated; I went through all of your memories; I went brain dead; I got stuck inside your head; you went to prison; you were enslaved; you died, again; you came back to life; you infiltrated a secure headquarters and overthrew a tyrannical dictatorship; you got shot; Martha gave birth; and you’ve had your death faked … all in the space of  _ seven months  _ of my life?’

The Doctor pulled a face. ‘Really? It’s only been seven months for you?’

‘Yeah, Time Lord. Work it out. So come on. Let's have a holiday.’

'A … holiday.’

‘Yeah, remember those?’

‘Vaguely,’ the Doctor replied, shrugging.

‘Just relax. Your leg's gotta fix anyway so give yourself a break.’ She got onto her tip-toes and pecked him a kiss. ‘Right, I'm gone.’

‘Where are you going?’ he asked as she moved off.

‘Spa!’ she called over her shoulder as she disappeared around the corner. ‘Come if you're comin’!’

For a moment, the Doctor just thought about that. Last time he'd been in a spa it had been overrun by balverines and he'd almost been savaged to death if not for the help of a stranger. Then he'd had to go into the balverines’ lair to find the mayor a special plant to eat so he didn't turn into a balverine. That had been a  _ very  _ long day.

He'd skip the spa, he decided, and instead he'd look around a bit more.

* * *

According to her rapidly-maturing time sense, Leah knew that she’d lost her brother at precisely 2:46pm. 

After the lesson, she and Alex had decided to try and find their parents and had entered the main communal area, which was thick with people. It hadn't taken long for the small, almost mute boy to get lost in the crowd, and for Leah to have a mild panic about her little brother. But after ten minutes running around, she'd realised that he wasn't exactly in serious danger here, and he was smart. He'd probably go back to the play room.

So she found her way back, but Alex wasn't there either. She was just pondering how much her parents were going to kill her, when one of the other children in the playroom walked up to her.

‘D’ya wanna p’ay with us?’ the girl asked.

‘Um, I’m kinda busy,’ Leah was about to say, but already found herself being pulled to the massive group. ‘Oh, kay,’ Leah said as the other children looked at her. ‘I’m Leah.’

‘We’re playing Unit,’ a boy said.

‘Um, how do I play?’

‘You can be the Doctor.’

Leah blinked. ‘Um, what?’

‘The alien,’ the boy clarified.

‘Err … what do I do?’

‘You gotta chase everyone to kill ‘em and then go dead when I shoot you, silly,’ the boy told her.

‘Why is the alien dead?’ Leah wanted to know.

‘Cos aliens are bad and gotta be killed!’ the boy responded, and looked to the others. ‘I’m gonna be the Brigadier!’

‘No, Peter,’ one of the little girls whined. ‘You been the Biggy-deer for loads of minutes.’

‘No, Kayla, I’m more older, I’m in charge!’ Peter said.

Kayla burst into tears and went running off to the nearest adult. Peter ignored this, and picked up his toy gun. ‘Everyone, it’s the alien, run!’

Immediately all of the other children started pretend yelling and running around in circles, giggling. Leah just stood there, staring at them.

‘C’mon!’ Peter yelled at her. ‘You gotta run ‘round and kill people and then I shoot you cos I’m the Brigadier!’

Leah didn’t move an inch. ‘I don’t wanna play anymore,’ she said quietly.

‘You’re so boring!’ Peter yelled.

Without wanting to, Leah took a step. Immediately the rest of the children screamed in delight and ran faster. She raised an unenthusiastic hand, and touched a boy that ran past.

‘Caleb, the Doctor touched you, you gotta die!’ Peter ordered.

‘No, I didn’t get touched!’ Caleb insisted.

‘Yeah, you did!’

‘I didn’t!’ Caleb wailed, and started crying.

A few more people scraped Leah in the fray. They all collapsed to the floor, giggling through their terrible display of being dead. Leah stood stock still, just staring at the children running around her, pretending to scream and die from the touch of her daddy. Then Peter arrived, holding a toy gun and pointing it at her.

‘You’re making it too easy!’ he complained.

Leah looked at him, just as he fired a shot and a ping-pong ball bounced harmlessly off of her chest. Everyone stopped to stare at her.

‘I killed you, alien, you gotta die now!’ Caleb ordered. 

Leah shook her head, tears in her eyes. ‘I don’t like this game,’ she muttered.

‘You’re rubbish at playing!’ Caleb declared.

Leah, reluctantly, sank to the floor. Immediately everyone else started cheering and rejoicing the alien’s death. Leah couldn’t take it anymore. She got up, ran through the crowd and straight to the door of the playroom without a single look back.

* * *

The Doctor was just making his way back to the playroom, when he heard the sound of a child sobbing. Concerned, he rushed to the door, only to find the sobbing child was his own daughter, sitting outside the playroom in the corridor, hugging her knees to her chest and crying. 

‘Leah?’ he asked. ‘What happened?’

‘Nuffin’,’ the little girl said unconvincingly.

He went for a hug, but she shrugged away from him. Confused, he sat down beside her, wincing a little at the pain in his leg.

‘Can I cry too?’ he wondered. ‘It’s been one of those days.’

She finally looked up at him, her little lip wobbling and her eyes red and wet. ‘Am I bad?’

‘Yeah,’ the Doctor joked. ‘Absolute pain, you are.’

That made her cry even more. Not the time for jokes, the Doctor thought to himself. ‘Sorry. Not funny. No, of course you’re not bad. Why would you think you’re bad?’

‘Cos I’m an alien.’

The Doctor frowned. ‘Why does that make you bad?’

‘Peter said all aliens were bad.’

‘Who’s Peter?’

Leah pointed to the playroom. Another child, the Doctor assumed.

‘When did  _ you  _ start listening to other people?’ he asked seriously. ‘You know that’s not true. You know that more than anyone here.’

‘But they played a game called Unit, where Alastair was killing you,’ Leah said quietly. ‘And when you touch people they die. Everyone runs screaming from us.’

‘The Brigadier shooting me? Bet he’d love that,’ the Doctor mused.

Leah finally reached in to hug him, her little arms encircling his belly. He hugged her back.

‘Humans have had some bad experiences with aliens,’ the Doctor explained. ‘They’re just scared, and people are silly when they’re scared. You know that.’

‘But I’m not like them,’ Leah told him. ‘And I can’t say who I am. Why can’t I say I’m an alien?’

‘They’re just not used to it. They’re in a world where aliens have destroyed their homes.’

‘But …’

‘Leah,’ the Doctor said, pushing her back to look her in the eye. ‘The important thing to remember is that they might see us as aliens, but they’re all aliens to us. So why don’t we run screaming from humans?’

‘Because every life form is beautiful,’ Leah replied in a mantra.

‘Exactly. We’ve just got to be a bit patient and smart. They’ll come around, but they’ve had a knock and that’s okay. They’re allowed to be a bit jumpy around aliens, and me, of course. We just shrug and move on.’

‘But they were killing you.’

‘Let’s be fair, the last humanity heard of aliens, it was me, and they thought I’d killed a load of people.’

Leah sniffed. ‘But you didn’t.’

‘No, but how can they know that?’ the Doctor countered. He paused for a moment, and then got up. ‘C’mon, I wanna play this game.’

Leah look startled. ‘No.’

‘Aww, come on,’ he said, holding out his hand.

‘I don’t wanna play,’ she sobbed.

He sighed. ‘Okay,’ he said, and looked around. ‘Um, where’s Alex?’

Leah looked a bit guilty. ‘Um … I lost him.’

‘Yeah, he’s easy to lose,’ the Doctor mused, and held out his hand again. ‘Let’s find him.’

She took it and stood up, patting down her crumpled shirt. He handed over the communicator.

‘This is yours. This button contacts me, this button contacts Mum, and this button contacts the Brigadier,’ he said, pointing at each in turn. ‘So if you have any problems don’t hesitate.’

‘Mmmkay,’ Leah said, taking the communicator.

‘Right, Alex hunt,’ the Doctor said. ‘You start on A-wing, and I’ll start on F-Wing.’

* * *

After an extensive search, the Doctor finally found his son in the Observatory roughly an hour later, sitting on one of the chairs staring up through a north-facing glass dome poking out of Snowdonia to the stars above. The Observatory was empty apart from the little boy.

‘Alex, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,’ the Doctor said, not expecting a reply. He didn’t get one, except Alex looking at him briefly before looking back up. So he moved to his son, resting his crutch on the side and sitting next to him, gazing up. 

He looked at Alex. The boy just stared through the dome to the sky.

‘I know, I feel that too,’ the Doctor mused. ‘We’ll be out soon enough.’

Alex looked at him, and to the Doctor’s absolute delight, he opened his mouth to reply.

‘I went lookin’ for you, Dadda. I thought you be atta stars.’

The Doctor’s hearts did a small flip. That was the longest sentence he’d ever heard Alex say. He decided not to make a big deal of it. ‘Good guess.’

Alex lifted a hand.’Caso-pea. Polaris. The Plough. Milky Way,’ he said, pointing at each in turn.

‘Very good. Which one would you want to go to?’ he asked, trying to maintain the conversation.

‘Not those,’ Alex said. ‘There are, um, are bears in Ursa?’

The Doctor smiled. ‘Oh, yes. And they’re docile. It’s like walking into an episode of Care Bears.’

‘Can go see bears?’

‘Of course we can. As soon as we’re out of here, we’ll go there. Promise. D’you wanna know more about the stars in the Earth’s sky?’

Alex nodded.

‘Okay,’ the Doctor replied, mentally planning a few lessons. ‘I'll make sure you know every star.’

Alex smiled. ‘Dadda, what happens as you regen-rate?’

The Doctor blinked, surprised at the sudden change of subject. ‘What?’

‘Regen-rate?’

The Doctor frowned. ‘When I regenerate? Well, um, I’m terrified, mostly.’

‘Does it hurt?’

The Doctor had never lied to his children, and he wasn’t about to start. ‘Yes, it does.’

‘I’m scared.’

‘Of regenerating?’

‘Yeah. F’dying.’

The Doctor sat up, alarmed. ‘Alex, of all the things in the universe – Daleks, Cybermen, your grandmother's cooking – why would you be scared of dying and regenerating?’

‘Cos I will.’

‘One day, yes, but that's so far in the future when you’re very, very old, so don’t worry. Okay?’

‘Okay.’

‘Please don't even think about that.’

‘But I near died.’

The Doctor swallowed, briefly flashing back a couple of weeks. ‘I know, but Uncle Brax saved you.’

‘I went to, um, this really dark p’ace and I wanted you or Mummy but … but you not there, not for ages. Don't wanna go back.’

The Doctor’s hearts were beating very, very fast. ‘You are  _ never _ going back there. Nothing is ever going to take you away from us. Got that?’

Alex didn’t reply.

The Doctor pulled him into a hug. ‘Okay?’ Pause. ‘Alex,’ he prompted.

‘Yeah,’ the boy finally said, still looking up at the stars.

The Doctor sighed and held him a little tighter. Alex responded, his little arms wrapping around his father’s chest. ‘... Alex, why do you never say anything?’

Silence.

The Doctor sighed again and kissed his head, brushing back the boy’s unruly brown hair. Then he frowned. ‘You're a little feverish.’

‘Got sick yesterday.’

‘How d'you know?’

Alex didn’t reply, just hugging him.

‘C'mon, I'll take you to the infirmary,’ he said, getting up and picking up the boy, who clung onto his neck. ‘Hey, I love you.’

‘I love you too,’ Alex replied. Somehow the Doctor knew that was the last sentence that was going to come out of him for a while.


	4. Time Puberty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor ponders over helping his children embrace being aliens, before the family try to have a meal in public. Jack and Kiana bond.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More back references. Yash I'd be proud of you remembering - he's the Doctor's number one fan who saved our Time Lord in The Debt and then found a home on Earth towards the end of Mother's Nature. The tape Rose and the Doctor refer to was recorded in Time, where the Doctor is forced to take the blame for killing a load of humans. Kiana is the daughter of the Master (who consequently killed and buried the human he made her with, of course :P ), who was adopted by the family at the end of Mother's Nature.

An hour later, the Doctor located Rose, still in the spa, sitting in a Jacuzzi reading a magazine. He moved behind her, and tapped on her shoulder. She yelped and turned.

‘Don’t do that!’ she demanded as soon as she realised it was him.

He smiled. ‘Pruned, yet?’

‘If you’re comin’ in, get some swimmin’ trunks from the lady.’ 

‘Nah, bad experience with a Jacuzzi,’ he replied, shrugging slightly.

‘What? Did the Daleks do somethin’ bad with a Jacuzzi?’

‘I was once sucked into another world through the plughole of a Jacuzzi.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘The tragic thing is, you’re not even jokin’.’

He grinned. ‘Nah. Oh, I think Leah’s having problems.’

‘With what?’

He quickly checked for any unwelcome ears, but the place was empty. ‘Being an alien.’

Rose frowned. ‘She’s never worried about that before.’

‘I found her earlier, crying in the corridor. She asked me if being an alien made her a bad person.’

Rose’s eyes widened. ‘Why would she say that?’

‘We’re in an alien-hating world,’ the Doctor pointed out. ‘She’s being told by humans that aliens are bad. She’s never needed to question herself because it’s never been an issue before. But now she’s among regular humans, she’s an alien, and she’s starting to question what that means. She’s not even allowed to say she’s an alien, here. She’s confused about who she is and what being an alien means, and why she can’t talk about it.’

‘Oh. What do we do?’

He thought for a moment. ‘I need to do the regeneration talk with Leah and Alex.’

‘Is that like the puberty talk for Time Lords and Ladies?’ Rose wondered, grinning. ‘What’s it called? Time puberty?’

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh, no. It’s just Alex was being a bit … well, he was asking about it earlier.’

Rose frowned. ‘Wait, he was talkin’?’

‘Yeah. We had a conversation.’ 

‘Oh, wow. How’s his vocab?’

‘For someone who’s never really talked before, he was very,  _ very _ good,’ the Doctor mused. ‘Did it all in English, too. But he was worrying about regeneration.’

‘What about it?’

‘He was asking if it hurt. He and Leah are both asking questions. Leah, yes, but Alex? He’s only eighteen months.’

‘You gotta explain it to them,’ Rose said. ‘If they’re askin’ questions then they’re old enough to know. Not normal, remember? Got super Gallifreyan genes. They need to know.’

The Doctor smirked, trying not to look too full of himself and his genes. ‘I  _ was  _ going to make that regeneration simulator, but then I got fake killed.’

‘Make it when we get back. Just explain it for now. Lecture, then the practical, yeah?’

He nodded. ‘Okay. Tomorrow morning.’

‘And make sure you tell them more about Gallifrey.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah. Maybe Leah’s unhappy because she doesn’t actually know her heritage that much, besides the language. I want her to be proud of bein’ part-gallifreyan. Hey, can she ever become a Time Lady?’

He pulled a face. ‘Not really. Not without the Time Academy.’

‘Can’t you do somethin’?’

He briefly thought about that. ‘Maybe. Let me work on that. Oh, Alex is in the infirmary.’

Rose sat up so fast that the Doctor was very nearly slurped with a small wave of water. ‘What!? What happened!? Has he been hurt!?’

‘Just a mild fever, Harry thinks it’s a cold,’ the Doctor said. ‘Relax. He’s just sorting out some antivirals.’

She relaxed. ‘Oh. Okay.’

‘Now come on, let’s pick him up and go find some food.’

* * *

It had been a while since they had all been able to eat together as a family without anyone else. As such, Rose had completely forgotten what a massively weird bunch of people her family were. To her left was her young son, who was completely silent throughout the meal, bar some sneezing; in front of her was her daughter, who’d already argued with her about being able to have some alcohol and was now in a mood; and to her diagonal left was her husband, who’d ordered three starters, two main courses, and had just asked for the dessert menu.

‘I’m just saying having Italian people serving you Italian food makes the Italian food seem more Italian,’ the Doctor was saying, stealing from Leah’s plate what she hadn’t finished.

‘Daddy, for the hundredth time, the waiter doesn’t  _ have  _ to be Italian!’ Rose moaned. 

‘I don’t want this stupid juice!’ Leah moaned. ‘I’m not a baby!’

‘Leah, you’re  _ four!’  _ Rose stressed.

‘It’s an Italian restaurant!’ the Doctor insisted. ‘There should be more Italians.’

Rose groaned. ‘Daddy, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a  _ secret base _ in a post-apocalyptic world. Gettin’ the national people of the national restaurant to serve you their cuisine is just …’

‘But I don’t get affected by alcohol!’ Leah protested.

‘There’s got to be  _ some  _ Italians here,’ the Doctor stated.

‘Leah, you  _ can’t have  _ any wine all right!?’ Rose yelped. ‘And Daddy, will you just _ be quiet?’ _

‘It’s not fair!’ Leah wailed.

‘I’m saying that …’

‘Both of you, will you just …’ Rose began, exasperated.

‘Mummy!’ Leah cried.

‘Mummy!’ the Doctor cried.

‘Shut up!’ Rose yelled. The entire restaurant silenced. For a moment, all the family could do was smile at the staring people, before conversations resumed. ‘I can’t have two conversations at once, yeah?’ Rose snapped at them both. ‘Leah, no alcohol, and I don’t wanna hear another word about it! And Daddy, if you say the word “Italian” one more time I’m gonna shove this fork right up your –’

‘– Assorted dessert menu for you, sir,’ the waiter suddenly interrupted, handing the Doctor the menu. Rose noted that he really seemed to be looking at the Doctor, as if thoroughly checking him out.

The Doctor pretended to read it like a human as the waiter left. ‘Oh! Ooo. Ahh,’ he said intermittently. ‘Mmm. Mmmmmm.’

‘How the hell are you not full yet?’ Rose moaned.

‘It’s like we  _ haven’t  _ been married for twelve years,’ the Doctor told her.

‘We haven’t! Seven months for me, twelve years for you! Time travel! And let’s not have this conversation here, yeah?’ Rose hissed, leaning forward and glancing pointedly at the people around them. ‘I need the loo.’

‘I need the loo,’ Leah echoed.

‘Well, we can go together, then. Girls always go in pairs, yeah?’ Rose said, grinning.

‘Daddy, tell Mummy I’m not speaking to her,’ Leah said indignantly, her arms folded.

‘Leah isn’t speaking to you, Mummy,’ the Doctor repeated in a drawl, still staring at the dessert menu.

‘What … Leah, I’m just sayin’ that …’

‘Oh, I can’t hear that!’ Leah said loudly. ‘I think I heard a mouse squeak but I dunno!’

‘Leah, stop bein’  _ such  _ a little shi … madam!’ Rose quickly corrected herself.

‘Mummy said to stop being such a little shi … madam,’ the Doctor repeated.

‘Tell Mummy I think she’s a poo-poo head.’

‘Leah thinks Mummy’s a poo-poo head,’ the Doctor repeated. ‘Ooo, Tiramisu!’ he enthused.

‘Daddy, will you put that  _ bloody  _ menu down and help me out here?’

The Doctor looked up. ‘Me? Me!’ he realised, and put the dessert menu down. ‘What are we talking about?’

Rose sighed loudly. ‘I’m goin’ to the loo.’

‘No,  _ I’m  _ going to the loo,’ Leah stated. ‘And I don’t need you to take me!’

‘But I’m the one that needed it in the first pla–’

‘Bye!’ Leah yelled pointedly, got up, and ran off.

‘Thanks for the help, you were great, seriously, you should win like a parentin’ award,’ Rose said sarcastically.

‘I should,’ the Doctor agreed seriously, picking up the dessert menu again, just before there was a huge uproarious cheer from somewhere in the back. The waiter who was serving them emerged from the kitchens, looking delighted.

‘Sorry to interrupt the evening, but we’re on internal comms and the army found this massive safehold full of loads of different types of aliens, and they’re all dead!’ he announced. 

The entire restaurant cheered. Glasses chinked, and a stream of insults towards aliens came from the other tables. ‘Did they find the Doctor?’ one of the crowd asked.

‘We dunno yet. Hope so!’ the waiter said.

Rose looked at the Doctor, who’d stopped looking at the menu and instead was gazing at her. They both tried to look as happy as they could.

‘Hey, they’ve killed some aliens,’ Rose said, trying not to let her voice shake.

‘Yeah, great,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Let’s wipe them all off of the face of the planet.’

‘Good plan,’ Rose muttered as Alex began to cry. She quickly took him in her arms, kissing him and hugging him.

The waiter returned to their table. He still seemed to be gazing at the Doctor, Rose thought. ‘Can I get you some dessert or coffee?’ he asked.

The Doctor thought about that, and then gave back the menu. ‘No thanks,’ he said, and handed over his card. ‘We’ll be on our way.’

‘Very well,’ the waiter said, and left just as Leah returned, still in a mood. She strolled up the table, sat down, and folded her arms. Only then did she seem to pick up that something had happened as she gazed at her crying brother and her two silent parents.

‘Um, what happened?’ she asked.

‘They found a place of aliens and killed them all,’ the Doctor muttered.

Leah froze. ‘Oh.’

The waiter came back, handing the Doctor back his card. ‘Thank you.’

‘Oh, no, thank  _ you,’  _ the Doctor insisted, pulling his broadest grin. ‘This was great. Really, really great.’

The waiter just smiled, and left. The Doctor got up almost immediately. ‘Allons-y.’

* * *

They got back to their room at 8pm. As Leah and Alex played on the bed, the Doctor and Rose went together into the bathroom, where the Doctor got out his communicator and pressed the button for the Brigadier. ‘Brigadier?’

_ ‘Good evening, Smith,’  _ the Brigadier said.  _ ‘How are you settling in?’ _

‘Just dandy,’ the Doctor assured him. ‘Listen … they found a base of aliens?’

_ ‘Indeed,’  _ the Brigadier replied.  _ ‘I’m afraid I do not know much else, presently.’ _

‘They’re all dead?’

_ ‘I’m afraid so. The army shot them all down.’ _

‘I don’t suppose among them was a young blue alien called Yash, about five-and-a-half foot, brown hair?’

_ ‘I don’t have any details. Is that important?’ _

‘Sort of. Just let me know if you hear anything.’

_ ‘I shall. Any problems on your end?’ _

‘No.’

_ ‘Let’s keep it that way,’  _ the Brigadier replied.

‘Bye.’ He slipped the communicator back into his pocket, and looked at Rose. She seemed as though she were about to burst into tears. He moved forward to instinctively hug her. ‘Hey,’ he said softly. ‘It’s okay.’

‘That could’ve been you, or Leah, or Alex,’ she moaned.

‘Well, it wasn’t, so chin up, okay? No one knows,’ the Doctor replied.

‘You were all over the news. They know you have a daughter called Leah. Someone’s gonna recognise you, cos I swear to God that waiter was starin’ at you like he  _ knew ...’ _

‘It’s in your head,’ the Doctor replied. ‘He was staring at me because I had three starters and two mains, not because he knew anything.’

‘But people know what you look like, that video Toby made you record …’

‘The man on that video looked nothing like me,’ the Doctor stated. ‘He was terminally ill and had just been held captive for weeks with the odd sprinkling of torture. He was unshaven, unkempt, and looked almost dead. I might have the same face, but I look  _ completely  _ different.’

Rose looked up at him, her eyes watering. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered.

‘S’ok.’

‘I’m just … I’m sorry.’

‘Stop apologising,’ the Doctor insisted. ‘You’ve got nothing to be sorry about.’

She sighed. ‘I love you.’

‘Feeling’s mutual,’ he assured her. ‘Now, come on. I died today, I’m quite tired.’

She smiled a little.

‘There it is,’ he said with a grin in place, kissing her. ‘Let’s get changed.’

* * *

Things had gone fairly smoothly in the Hub. Although they were yet to locate the gallifreyan family, they'd heard nothing about them since, which in Jack's mind could be a good thing. Maybe.

It was 3am, and he was sitting on the Doctor and Rose’s bed playing with Kiana, who had refused to go to sleep. She was distracting him very well from the avalanche of emotion going on in his head, so he didn’t mind. He wasn’t sleeping much anyway.

'Jag,' Kiana suddenly said after a loud, long giggle.

Jack stopped waving his bear around, staring at her, his jaw agape. 'What did you say?'

'Ja. Ja. Jag.'

'Did you say Jack?' he asked, frozen.

'Ja. Ka.'

'Yes!' Jack realised, ecstatic. 'You did!'

'Ja, ka?' she asked, confused.

'Doctor!' he yelled over his shoulder. 'She said her first word and you'll never guess what it ...'

He tailed off as he realised the Doctor wasn't around to hear. The slight deadness that followed inside of him as he remembered the Doctor's fate was quickly overridden by the little dark-haired girl sitting in front of him, trying to take the bear in his hand. 'Jaka.'

He smiled. 'You're so clever aren't you?'

'Jaka. Bah dah goo bee,' Kiana replied.

'Bah dah goo bee to you as well,' Jack said and waved the bear again. He was finding it very difficult to understand how such an innocent, happy, beautiful little thing like Kiana had come from the Master. For a very brief moment, he wondered where the Master was. If the entire Earth was out for aliens, and if the invading race could detect aliens like Rose said, then he would be detected. Was he still on Earth?

He then dismissed the very  _ thought  _ of even caring about him. He had to find the Doctor, Rose and the kids. The Master was at the very bottom of the to do list.

He looked back at Kiana. ‘Are you sleepy yet?’

Kiana showed absolutely no indication of wanting to sleep. ‘Jaka. Jaka pay. Pay Jaka.’

He grinned. ‘Good, cos I’m not sleeping,’ he said, and held up the bear again. ‘Where were we?’


	5. Regeneration Studies 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor explains regeneration to his children.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never claimed to be a pro in Time Lord anatomy, but I do take a little pride in it! :D This has all been thoroughly researched (due to timing this series doesn't take into account anything added or subtracted by the 13th Doctor), and of course I'm me, so I've added a few extras here and there which aren't strictly in any form of DW media but just ... make sense.

The next morning after breakfast, the Doctor ignored his physiotherapy program for his leg and together the family went back to their room. There he sat them on the bed.

‘Why are we here? I wanna go explore,’ Leah moaned.

‘Special new learning module,’ Rose told her.

The little girl looked intrigued. ‘What?’

The Doctor smiled gently at her. ‘How to be a gallifreyan, part one. Regeneration,’ he announced.

Leah’s eyes shot open. ‘We’re doing regeneration?’

‘Yep,’ the Doctor replied.

Leah immediately jumped off of the bed and ran to a drawer, pulling out a pad of paper and a pen UNIT had given to her for her lessons. She then ran back to the bed and jumped on, nearly sending her entire family flying with the resulting bounce.

The Doctor began. ‘First, the physical side. As a gallifreyan, you’re …’

‘Hold on!’ She neatly wrote the title, the subtitle and the date in Gallifreyan at the top of the page.

The Doctor patiently waited. ‘Ready?’

‘Mmmkay,’ she eventually said.

‘Right, as I was saying,’ the Doctor began again with a bright smile, looking between his children. ‘As a gallifreyan, you’re born with these little “packets” of regeneration energy inside your biological make up. A bit like Pot Noodles, really. You just add water when the time’s right and you get the new body. But these little packets can also be removed, so they can be taken off of you, you can give bits of them away, or you can add more – but generally they only exist in other Time Lords, so you would have to steal them from someone else to get more. The Master’s done that before.’

‘Is that like murder?’ Rose wondered. She seemed a little tense, the Doctor noted.

The Doctor shrugged. ‘The ethics are complicated. There’s entire books on that subject. But essentially, yes, it’s murder if it’s not consented to. But a future murder, if you get that.’

‘Yeah,’ Rose muttered.

‘Why?’ he asked her, frowning.

‘Come on,’ Leah prompted, still writing things down.

‘Okay, right …’ The Doctor tore his eyes from Rose back to his children, making a mental note to talk to her about that later. ‘Risks. First of all, there’s a few circumstances where you won’t be able to regenerate. Damage to the brain stem or penetrative trauma to both hearts; weapons designed to kill Time Lords; sometimes if the Tardis you’re symbiotically linked to is damaged that can create problems; some types of radiation; and never,  _ ever  _ go within twenty feet of a varga.’

‘What’s a varga?’ Leah asked.

‘A plant on a planet called Skaro.’

‘We’re not going there, mmkay?’ Leah decided.

The Doctor smiled a little. ‘Nah. Anyway. During regeneration, your immune system is completely compromised. So always try and do it in a clean environment if you can, or at least keep people away from you. One germ could kill you if it’s the wrong one. That’s why it’s better to do it in the Tardis, since she’s a sterile environment. But you’ve got to keep people away not just because of the germs, but also because the regenerative energy can be very powerful. If you can’t warn the people with you to get away, you can control the “blast” of the regeneration energy to an extent, but that takes a lot of concentration, which really you should be focusing on your new body. Oh, and I’ve found my last few regenerations easier if I stay standing up. Also,  _ never  _ try to regenerate in space. Believe me, it won’t work.’

‘What happens?’ Leah asked.

The Doctor pulled a face. ‘Apparently your body … twists, trying to adapt to something that can survive in a vacuum. It’s not pretty. But I’ve only heard the stories.’

‘Ugh,’ Leah said.

‘Yeah, ugh,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘The body you get is partly guided by you, but to get the exact form you want needs a lot of skill and concentration. Either you’re good at it or you’re not, and I’m not. You could end up with absolutely anything. I just aim for a humanoid with everything in the right place and - so far - it’s worked. But beyond that, it’s a lottery for me. When your mum helped me regenerate into the same body, she was saving me from having to concentrate on forming my new body. She did that for me. I just relaxed and trusted her that she wouldn’t give me two heads, which is probably why I had a very good regeneration with no after-effects.’

Rose giggled. He rolled his eyes.

‘Your mental state is also at risk. There could be mental problems, like when I last regenerated, both my mind and my next persona’s mind were active in my head. I knew someone who regenerated with all the personas of his previous forms together in his head, and it turned him into a psychopath. Every regeneration he added another personality.’

Leah was looking a little terrified now. ‘Does that happen loads?’

‘Well, it only happened to me the once. And that was only because we were messing around with my regeneration. So no, not a lot. But yeah – the actual process. First, well, of course, you start dying. You’re usually in a good amount of pain from whatever’s killing you, and there’s nearly always people screaming in your face to not die, or to regenerate, or they don’t understand what’s happening, or whatever they’re saying. Usually their voices are distorted, and their faces are all weird and brightly coloured, and that can get a bit scary, but you have to just ignore it. You might also get some hallucinations of faces, or other things. Then, you have to relax ... which is quite hard when everyone’s still screaming in your face with weird voices and faces. But once you’re relaxed, you feel everything in your body stop working. You feel all of your organs stop inside you. You can still be standing up and talking when this happens.’

‘Freaky,’ Rose muttered.

The Doctor nodded. ‘At that point, you’re in the limbo state – where you’re not alive, but not quite dead. This is where you can still be revived. You’re essentially keeping your brain going though your hearts aren’t beating.’

‘How does that work?’ Leah asked.

He paused, thinking about that. ‘Well, you know how if you’re really,  _ really  _ tired and you drift, you keep twitching and jerking awake? It’s like that. You’re trying not to fall asleep. Cos if you fall asleep too deeply, then you’ll permanently die. So I only go into this limbo when I know there’s something or someone that could potentially revive me. You’re essentially hedging your bets on the situation you left as to there being any chance of revival. Also depends on what you died of, of course, and how serious it was. And it’s pretty hard to rationally think about all of this when you’re hurting and terrified. You can only stay in limbo for a few minutes, and then you start to permanently die. But your cells can keep firing for a few days, so even if you appear dead, your body’s still technically alive for a while.’

‘But you’re actually dead?’ Leah asked. ‘And you can’t come back to life?’

He shrugged. ‘Not really sure. I’ve only ever been in that situation once. When I first met your Auntie Martha. My hearts stopped and I went into limbo for about two minutes, and then I died for one minute. She managed to revive me.’

‘Why didn’t you just regenerate?’ Rose asked, confused.

The Doctor winced a little. ‘Well, I knew Martha was a doctor and could save me. I held onto limbo for as long as I could, but I lost it. By then it was too late for me to regenerate.’

‘Okay,’ Leah replied, scribbling more notes down.

‘Once you’re in the limbo state, you’ve got three options. Either you hang on and hope that someone can revive you like I said; you choose to die; or you choose to regenerate. If you choose to die. That’s where you just resign to it and fall asleep. Of course, I’ve never done that since I’m not dead, but that’s permanent. Bye-bye universe, and all that. Then there’s regeneration. When you’re in limbo and you’re struggling to stay awake, there’s this sort of presence you can feel on your left. You mentally move yourself to turn left, and there’s this … kind of, well, bright light. You run straight towards it, as fast as you can. You end up in a non-state inside your own head; floating around. It’s then you need to access a regeneration Pot Noodle and add the water. You just concentrate on regenerating, and then once that’s done, you start the process. And this usually all happens in about half a second.

‘After that, your physical body becomes a pile of dead cells that begin to, well, psyche themselves up to try and renew themselves. That’s the point where, if you’re attacked, you can be permanently killed. But once you’re hot enough, you start the full regeneration and your physical body’s consumed. You have to concentrate  _ really  _ hard on your next body. The harder you concentrate the better it is, and also the less you fight death then the easier it is.’

‘Does it hurt?’ Leah asked.

The Doctor looked at her for a moment. ‘Your cells are all in an absolutely frenzy. You’re a hive of white-hot activity. Every single cell is renewing and burning at around a thousand degrees celsius. Inside your body, you’re at the temperature of molten lava. Yeah, it hurts.’

Leah and Rose both winced a little. Alex just stayed silent, staring at him. ‘But you get used to it, yeah?’ Rose asked.

‘You never really get used to it, you just learn to cope with it as you keep regenerating,’ he told her. ‘But anyway, you just concentrate as best you can on your new body. Everything gets hotter and whiter, you feel like you’re running out of air. Then, you get to the point of no return. Before you feel like you’re going to choke, you can still stop the process, but that’s risky, because you have to time it perfectly to stop adverse effects. Once you gasp in air, that’s it, you’re done and you can’t go back. The physical light goes and you’ve got your new body, which feels like ice. Your hearts restart, and it’s better for you to start moving quickly to get blood flowing.

‘After, unless you had complete control of the regeneration, then anything can happen – little aftershocks. You might lose your memory, become sick, fall into a coma, or vividly hallucinate – anything. You’re renewing every single cell in your body, and if it isn’t perfectly done then there’ll be some errors. So far for me they’ve cleared up fairly fast, and you can use some things to help that process. Being in the Tardis helps, sleeping helps, plus tea and chocolate as they’re medicinal for us.’

‘When he first did it with me he went crazy for a bit and then went into a coma,’ Rose told Leah, and then stopped and looked at the Doctor. ‘Wait, chocolate’s good for you?’

The Doctor winced a little. ‘No, I’m not taking us to Cadburys.’

‘Daddy! Regeneration!’ Leah prompted.

‘Sorry. Right, um, the fifteen hours. The first fifteen hours after your regeneration are  _ the  _ most important bit, it can make or break your next body. It’s that point where you’re flooded with the lindos hormone, which can temporarily make you impossibly fit and strong. You’ve also got residual cellular energy which you can use to regrow parts of your body in case something went wrong and you’re missing a limb or something.’

‘Like getting your hand cut off by a sycorax,’ Rose muttered.

‘Yeah, like that,’ the Doctor said, grinning. ‘But you’re basically jelly in a mould that hasn’t set yet. You can latch onto things or people close to you and make them part of your new personality without even realising it. After those fifteen hours, you begin to set, and it doesn’t finish setting for about a week. So in that time you could still be sick, or small physical features might change, like hair length. Once all that’s done and the jelly’s set, then you can start to explore your new body and your new traits. After I’ve regenerated, I spend a lot of time falling over as the proportions of my body completely change. I also keep dropping things and knocking things over because after I regenerate I’m not used to the reach of my new limbs, and I’ve wet the bed once or twice.’

Rose stared at him. ‘You did what?’

‘Nothing,’ the Doctor said, avoiding her gaze. ‘But it’s all fine after a couple of weeks. Generally. And that’s about it, really.’

Leah stopped writing, and regarded the entire page of notes she’d made. ‘That’s a lot,’ she said.

‘Yeah,’ the Doctor agreed. ‘When we get out of here, I’ll make a constructed reality for you so you can practice. Also, if you regenerate, which you won’t until you’re very, very old,’ he hastily added, ‘then I’ll be there to help you. Always easier when there’s someone to help take the strain.’

‘Okay,’ Leah said, and hugged him and her mum. ‘Thank you.’

‘You’re welcome,’ he replied, hugging her in return. She put away her writing pad, and ran out of the door.

The Doctor looked at Alex. ‘Okay?’ he asked his son. ‘Anything you want me to explain more?’

Alex shook his head. He hugged his parents in turn, and followed Leah out of the door.

The Doctor looked at Rose. ‘How did I do?’ he joked.

‘Good,’ she replied, grinning. ‘What’s the next lesson?’

‘Dunno yet,’ he mused. ‘Hey, why did you ask about murder of future bodies?’

‘Oh, just wondered,’ Rose said casually, waving a hand.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. ‘Rose,’ he prompted.

She continued to look innocent. ‘Honest, was just interested,’ she said, getting up. ‘Shouldn’t you be doin’ your physio?’

He knew there was something wrong, but he decided not to pursue it for the moment. ‘Do I have to?’ he moaned.

She rolled her eyes. ‘You complain about bein’ stuck here, but you’re not doin’ the things that’ll make you heal faster. You’re an idiot.’

He grinned, holding out a hand to her. She pulled him up onto his good leg, handing him his crutch before they headed to the physio room.

* * *

‘Well, if it isn’t Mr I-don’t-need-no-physio,’ a young man said as they entered, grinning and extending a hand. ‘I’m Ollie. Unit physiotherapist.’

‘The Doctor,’ the Doctor said, taking his hand before nodding at Rose. ‘Rose Tyler.’

‘Nice to meet you, ma’am,’ Ollie said, shaking her hand. ‘Right, you lie down, you sit down,’ he ordered, pointing at the Doctor and Rose in turn. They obeyed, and he took a seat by the Doctor. ‘How’s the pain?’

‘Fine.’

He pulled the Doctor’s leg up. The Doctor immediately yelped.

‘Yeah, you wanna lie some more? Cos I can do all sort of things with your leg,’ Ollie told him. Rose laughed.

‘It was fine until you started pulling it around,’ the Doctor moaned.

‘Hey, I just lifted it,’ Ollie pointed out, and moved the Doctor’s leg some more. 

The Time Lord yelped again. ‘Stop  _ doing  _ that!’ he protested.

‘Have you used it at  _ all  _ since you got shot?’

‘Yes,’ the Doctor replied indignantly.

Ollie raised an eyebrow and looked at Rose. 

She shook her head, smirking. ‘Crutch only.’

‘Yeah, we’ll move quicker by not lying, Doctor,’ Ollie said, and moved his leg again, cuing another lengthy groan. ‘This is pretty dire. You’re supposed to heal way faster than humans, but you’re not recovering very fast.’

‘Maybe it’s because people keep moving my - ah! - leg!?’ the Doctor asked seriously.

‘How did you do it anyway?’ Ollie asked.

‘Shot by a crazy dictator while I was in his head,’ Rose replied.

Ollie blinked. ‘Come again?’

Rose took a deep breath. ‘He regenerated, but it went wrong and he got stuck inside his head, so I had to go in and get him out, but I ended up stuck in his head so I’d control him when he was asleep. We were just overthrowin’ this crazy dictator when we switched and I got control, and while I was runnin’ I got him shot. Um, sorry, again,’ she directed at the Doctor

‘Don’t worry. Happens,’ the Doctor breathed.

Ollie blinked again, looking between them both. ‘Does this kind of thing happens to you a lot?’

‘Yeah.’

‘So how many times  _ have  _ you been shot?’ Ollie asked the Doctor.

The Doctor seriously thought about that. ‘Um, I have no idea.’

‘This is the only time he’s been shot this year,’ Rose inputted helpfully.

‘Well, that’s okay then,’ Ollie said, rolling his eyes.

‘Oh no, wait! Back in Torchwood Tower,’ Rose suddenly said, looking at the Doctor. ‘You got shot then.’

‘Oh, yeah,’ the Doctor recalled. ‘I forgot about that.’

‘You  _ forgot?’  _ Ollie asked, dumbfounded.

‘Well, we were a little busy,’ Rose said.

‘Too busy to notice you’d been shot?’

‘It didn’t really matter,’ the Doctor insisted.

‘Didn’t matter!?’

‘Yeah, I was dying anyway.’

‘Dare I ask how?’

‘Terminal illness from poisonous gas.’

Ollie sighed lengthily. ‘Just no point with you, is there?’ he said. ‘And if you’re so good at getting shot, why are you so bad at getting better?’

‘That  _ is  _ a good question,’ Rose pondered.

‘Hey!’ the Doctor said. 

Ollie rolled his eyes and retrieved something from his desk. ‘A few exercises I want you to do, and you  _ will  _ do them,’ he said, handing the Doctor a piece of paper with various exercises detailed on it. ‘And I want you to start walking everywhere – low-impact exercise. I know you can do it, Time Lord, so stop being a sissy.’

To reinforce this point, he grabbed the crutch and put it by his desk. He then took back his bit of paper from the Doctor and gave it to Rose.

‘Wait, why are you …?’ the Doctor began.

‘I trust her more,’ Ollie told him, grinning again. ‘Now go. I wanna see you walk in here tomorrow.’

* * *

‘What a nice guy,’ Rose said as they left, the Doctor limping.

The Doctor just harrumphed, holding onto her shoulder for support as he groaned in pain.

‘You don’t like him?’ Rose asked, smirking.

‘Little more sympathy wouldn’t go amiss,’ he said.

Rose grinned and folded her arms around his neck, up on her tiptoes to kiss him. Mid-kiss, they were interrupted by the Brigadier’s voice.

_ ‘Smith? Come in.’ _

The Doctor sighed and pulled out his communicator. ‘Hello, Brigadier.’

_ ‘Come to the Headquarters. Quick march.’ _

‘Sir! ‘ the Doctor replied with mock military precision, Rose giggling.

_ ‘Do not try my patience, Smith.’ _

‘What did I say?’ the Doctor asked innocently.

_ ‘On the double! Quick march!’ _


	6. Pulling Teeth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Brigadier tells them more about the alien massacre and Rose’s worry for her family increases severely. Zak wakes up. Leah discovers a strange quirk of growing up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuuuuumm!

It was less of a quick march and more of a limp march as the Doctor made his way with Rose to the Headquarters. The moment they were through the checks, a small robot dog came trundling up.

‘Master!’ K9 said.

‘Aww, hello boy!’ the Doctor enthused. ‘I would pet you, but I can’t really stoop.’

K9 did a quick scan. ‘Penetrative trauma to the right thigh! Posterior entry with anterior exit, with damage to the …’

‘Yeah, thanks, K9,’ the Doctor interrupted, wincing. ‘Don’t need telling.’

‘Apologies, Master!’

‘That’s okay. Good boy!’

K9 wagged his tail and his ears. ‘Affirmative!’ he cried as Rose patted the robot dog on the head.

‘Doctor,’ the Brigadier interrupted, beckoning. ‘If we might have a word.’

He led them into the room they had first conversed in upon arrival, where Sergeant Louise Magalin was waiting. There, the Doctor collapsed into a seat as quickly as he could reach it.

‘More news on the aliens,’ the Brigadier began, taking the seat opposite. ‘It was a group of aliens who had all been living here before the invasion. They had got together for safety but the army surprised and overwhelmed them. No one of your description was found among the dead, I might add, although the bodies were heavily mutilated.’

‘They just killed them all?’ Rose repeated, her voice threatening to break.

‘All of them, including mothers and children,’ Louise said.

The Doctor surreptitiously rested his hand on Rose’s. ‘No survivors, then?’ he asked.

‘No,’ the Brigadier confirmed. ‘But this has escalated the alien problem. I have made absolutely sure that there will permanently be a set of Unit personnel ready to attend any incident you raise.’

‘That’s not necess–ah!’ the Doctor began, but stopped when Rose kicked him in his good leg.

‘We are only interested in getting you better and keeping you out of the spotlight,’ Louise said. ‘If your identity comes to light we have no doubt there will be serious consequences. We will do everything in our power to avoid it, but we are also ready if it happens. We’ve planned for every eventuality. We’ve also permanently put a guard on Leah and Alex.’

‘But that’s gonna raise suspicion,’ Rose said anxiously.

‘The guard has been told to keep a good distance, and act as if patrolling,’ Louise told her. ‘They are authorised to use proportionate force against any perpetrators wishing to harm Leah or Alex. For now, we want to keep normality, so go about your business as you have been. How is your leg?’

‘Working on it,’ the Doctor assured her.

‘Very well,’ the Brigadier said, getting up. ‘Take care.’

* * *

‘Okay, we’re goin’ back to the play area,’ Rose said as soon as they were out of the Headquarters.

The Doctor frowned. ‘But I wanted to …’

‘We’re goin’ back to Leah and Alex right now,’ Rose ordered, grabbing his arm. ‘We’re gonna stay together, yeah? No wanderin’ off. They’re just  _ waitin’  _ for us to wander off so they can get us.’

The Doctor stopped, pulling his arm away from her. ‘Rose, listen to yourself. You’re paranoid.’

‘Of course I’m bloody paranoid,’ Rose snapped, eerily reflecting her mother. ‘Any minute they could attack anyone of you! And we know they don’t care if they’re kids! They’re sick people, Doctor!’

‘Rose!’ the Doctor said firmly, quickly glancing around in case anyone was listening. They weren’t. ‘This is your _ own species _ you’re talking about.’

‘Yeah, and they’re all horrible people who kill children and cheer about it!’ Rose hissed. ‘And next time it could be ours, and you!’

_ ‘Nothing  _ is going to happen to Leah and Alex,’ the Doctor said calmly, gazing into her eyes. ‘And  _ nothing  _ is going to happen to me.’

‘You can’t know that!’ Rose pointed out. ‘And anyway, at least I’m admittin’ I think my species are a bunch of murderers! Why the hell are you defendin’ them?’

‘I’m not defending anyone,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Right now your species is oppressed and terrified. They’re trying to protect themselves and their families. Humans are biologically hardwired to attack anything and anyone they think poses a threat, and at the moment they have a clear definition of the enemy as someone who isn’t human. They are acting on instinct to protect their lives and their children. I don’t blame them; they don’t know any better.’

She was crying now. He took her into a hug.

‘How can you do this?’ she sobbed.

‘What?’

‘How can you like Earth? How can you keep comin’ back? How can you marry me and not think I’m disgustin’? After all we do?’

He pushed her away. ‘Rose, snap out of it,’ he ordered, his face set. ‘For all of humanity’s faults, when you apply your minds and unite, you can do wonderful things. You dream and you imagine, you create music, art, film and you tackle science head on. You’re not scared to try anything. You make sense out of chaos and have little things that make me happy – edible ball bearings, plastic instruments that you can use to pretend you’re in a rock band in the privacy of your own home – little things just to make your existence that little bit quirkier. There are bad things, but every species in the universe has its own problems, so don’t think you’re at all unique. The human race survive. You live and you thrive. You’re all determined to write your own little piece of history in time, despite the fact your lives are so short compared to a lot of species in the universe. I’m proud to know you, I’m proud to have fallen in love with you, and I’m honoured that you even care about me. Yes, it’s scary at the moment, but as long as we don’t have loud arguments in corridors about how horrible your species is then we’re all going to be fine, got it?’

Rose looked up at him, and then around the corridor they were stood in. It was empty, but she got his point. ‘Sorry,’ she said, sniffing.

‘I understand,’ he assured her. ‘You’re scared. Just don’t mix up hate with being scared.’

She nodded, wiping carefully at her eyes. ‘Okay. C’mon. Leah and Alex.’

‘But I …’

‘Please?’ she asked. ‘I just … I want us to all be together right now.’

He paused, and briefly smiled. ‘All right. Just don’t walk too fast.’

She giggled, wiping at her eyes again. ‘Okay.’

* * *

The film for the kids that day was a singalong version of Frozen, to Leah’s absolute delight. She had watched, utterly transfixed, gripping onto her dad’s arm throughout the entire showing, singing at the top of her voice. After the film Rose had gone to source some food, and had returned with sandwiches and drinks to find Alex playing with an Etch A Sketch, the Doctor lying on the floor with his head on a beanbag and his eyes closed, and Leah playing with some well-loved Anna and Elsa dolls, singing Let It Go repeatedly.

‘Don’t let them in, don’t let them see!’ Leah sang. ‘Be the good girl you always have to be! Conceal don’t feel, don’t let them knoooow, well now they knoooow! Let it go! Let it go! Can’t hold it back anymooore! Let it go! Let it go! Turn away and slam the dooooor!’

‘Rose!’ the Doctor said, his eyes snapping open. He quickly sat up and cleared a space for her to put the food and drink. She obliged, and he quickly went for the food.

‘Leave somethin’ for us,’ she reminded him as he crammed down two sandwiches in quick succession.

‘Sorry,’ he stated through some cheese.

Rose rolled her eyes as Leah and Alex tucked in.

‘Ah!’ Leah suddenly yelped, pulling her sandwich away.

‘What? Don’t you like it?’ Rose asked.

Leah just reached up to her mouth and placed her finger on one of her bottom teeth, where she wiggled it, looking nothing short of utterly mortified.

Rose beamed. ‘Oh wow. You’re losin’ your first tooth.’

‘I’m what!?’ Leah squeaked, abandoning the sandwich as she commenced wiggling her tooth. ‘This isn’t right, Mummy!’

Rose laughed. ‘Yeah it is, you’re fine. You’re meant to lose your teeth.’

‘Hooold on!’ Leah said, staring at her. ‘I’m gonna lose my teeth!? How am I gonna eat anything!?’

Rose laughed again. ‘You’ll grow new ones.’

‘This is a thing!?’

‘Yep, it’s a thing.’

‘Why didn’t you warn me!?’ Leah wailed, looking between her parents.

‘Leah, it’s fine,’ Rose insisted, still grinning. ‘You’ll get a whole new set of adult teeth, yeah?’

‘Adult teeth?’ Leah echoed, stopping mid-wiggle to stare at her mum.

‘Yeah. Means you’re growin’ up.’

‘Oh.’ Leah thought about that, and wiggled her tooth some more. Then she looked incredibly proud. ‘I’m getting adult teeth!’ she declared.

Rose laughed. ‘When it comes out, if you put it under you pillow then the Tooth Fairy’ll come and give you money for it.’

‘The what?’ Leah asked, frowning.

‘The Tooth Fairy.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Yeah.’

‘You think I’ll believe anything, dontcha?’ Leah said, looking indignant.

‘Really!’ Rose insisted.

‘Why would a fairy come and give me money for my teeth?’ Leah asked, quite confused.

‘Cos she wants to buy ‘em.’

‘Why?’

‘Cos she, um, deals in baby teeth.’

‘... Why?’

‘I dunno, she just does,’ Rose said, looking to the Doctor for help.

‘Yeah, very lucrative trade on the planet Dentinus,’ the Doctor said once he’d managed to swallow his next bit of sandwich. ‘They make everything out of the material. Trouble is none of them have any teeth so they have to import by the metric ton.’

‘Really?’ Leah asked, wide-eyed.

‘Really,’ the Doctor confirmed.

‘Why do I have to leave it under my pillow?’

‘Because that’s the contract,’ the Doctor said. ‘If you don’t put it under your pillow then she’ll assume you don’t want to trade your teeth.’

‘Oh.’ Leah wiggled her tooth some more. ‘How much do I get?’

‘Depends on the quality of the goods,’ the Doctor said. 

‘Yeah, I hope you’ve been brushin’,’ Rose added. ‘Then it’s a pound a tooth.’

‘I have!’ Leah realised, wide-eyed. ‘How many teeth do I have?’

‘Twenty,’ the Doctor said.

‘Twenty pounds!?’ Leah gaped.

‘Yeah,’ Rose said.

‘What can I get for twenty pounds?’

‘I dunno. Singalong Elsa doll?’ Rose guessed.

Leah stared at her. ‘I can get an Elsa doll!? And she  _ sings!?’ _ ’

‘Yeah.’

Leah immediately started trying to yank her tooth out with both hands.

‘Don’t pull before it’s ready, just wiggle it with your tongue,’ Rose told her. ‘Else there’ll be loads of unnecessary blood, yeah?’

Leah stiffened. ‘I’m gonna bleed?’

‘Yeah, a bit,’ Rose said.

Leah thought some more, clearly trying to decide if this was all worth a singalong Elsa doll. 'Okay!' she finally said, beaming broadly. 'Mummy, did your teeth fall out?'

'Yeah, they did.'

'Daddy, did your teeth fall out?'

'Oh, no,' the Doctor said, briefly glancing around to check for unwanted ears before continuing. 'Strictly a human thing.'

'Oh,’ Leah muttered. ‘So why do you know about the Tooth Fairy?’

‘Why do I know about the Tooth Fairy?’ the Doctor repeated, affronted. ‘She’s legendary!’

‘Really?’

‘Yep.’

‘Oh,’ she said again, got up, and ran away to the nearest mirror to check her tooth.

The Doctor leaned to Rose, glancing at Alex who was quietly eating a sandwich. ‘So, um, Tooth Fairy?’ 

* * *

Jack was sitting with Zak in the infirmary when Martha came in to do her check.

‘How are you doing?’ she asked him, genuinely concerned as she looked over Zak.

‘Okay,’ he muttered, chin in hand. ‘How's the little one?’

‘He's gone down and Mickey’s finally getting some sleep,’ she said.

Jack offered a small smile. ‘Can I help?’

‘No, you’re fine. You stay right here,’ she told him gently, and paused briefly in her check on Zak. ‘... Has there been any word?’

Jack shook his head. ‘Nothing.’

‘They'll be fine,’ she assured him.

‘Like everyone says,’ Jack muttered, his head in his hand. ‘But he's already dead. They killed him.’

She smiled sadly. ‘He’ll have a new face but we’ll just be glad to see him, Rose, and the kids.’ 

Jack sighed, and changed the subject. ‘How’s Zak?’

‘He’s doing very well,’ she said. ‘I’m going to wake him up now.’

Jack blinked. It was the first bit of good news he’d had for a few days. ‘He’s ready?’

She nodded, taking out an IV and administering something in his cannula. ‘He’ll be a bit groggy, but fairly sharp compared to a human,’ she told him. ‘And  _ very  _ quick waking up.’

‘Yeah, we’ve done this before,’ Jack reminded her quietly.

‘Yes, I know,’ Martha murmured, and together, they waited by Zak’s bedside, until suddenly, his eyes opened.

‘Hey, Zak,’ Jack said gently, leaning over him. ‘Can you hear me?’

‘Yeah,’ Zak muttered, his voice cracking as his eyes frantically looked around. 

‘Do you remember my name?’

‘Jack.’

‘Yeah. And how many fingers am I holding up?’ he asked, holding up three fingers.

‘Three.’

Jack smiled. ‘Good.’

‘Jack, where are we?’

‘Tardis,’ Jack replied gently. ‘We’re safe. You’ve been ill. How d’you feel?’

‘Hurt,’ Zak croaked.

Jack leaned forward on impulse and kissed him briefly. ‘It’s okay, we can get you more painkillers,’ he said, glancing at Martha who nodded and rushed off. 

‘What happened?’ Zak asked, dazed.

‘You did something very, very dumb. Very dumb, but very brave,’ Jack told him. ‘You pretended you were the Doctor and got your ass kicked when it should’ve been his. But it’s okay. You’ll get better.’

‘Where’s Leya?’

‘Where you left her,’ Jack replied. ‘We didn’t tell her. We didn’t think you’d want us to.’

‘No,’ Zak muttered. ‘I’m tired.’

‘Go to sleep. I’ll be here,’ Jack said, adjusting Zak’s pillow and tucking him in.

‘I love you.’

‘I love you too.’


	7. Marital Issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Rose talk out their issues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight smidgen of smut in this one - all pretty obvious when it starts.

After dinner, Leah and Alex had wanted to go and run around, so Rose had taken them to the play area, passing the guard she was sure was assigned to them on the way out. When she got back to their room, the Doctor had gone.

She quickly began to get a little anxious. She was trying desperately not to be obsessive about it, but not having her family near her was making her slightly restless. Leah and Alex were under guard, but the Doctor – although able to handle himself of course – had a penchant for getting into monumental problems.

After she’d waited what she thought was a reasonable amount of time so she didn’t seem completely paranoid, she left to find him.

* * *

She didn’t need to use her communicator; she knew already where he was most likely to be. The Observatory. She entered and saw him immediately, sitting on a sofa, staring up through the glass to the stars overhead. 

After a moment he noticed her. 'Hey,’ he greeted with a smile.

'Hey,’ she echoed, and took a seat next to him. 'Okay?’

'Yeah,’ he said, sniffing as he looked back up again.

She watched him. She knew him well enough. He lived his life being free and in the open sky, and now he was stuck inside a building, unable to get out. 'S’ok, we’ll be back up there soon,’ she told him.

He smiled wistfully, still staring up. 'You read my mind.’

'Hey, I was in it for a while,’ she pointed out. 'I know.’

They fell silent, the both of them just content to stare up for a moment, until Rose broke the silence. ‘I really love you. I’ve just gotta tell you that.’

‘Love you too,’ he replied seriously.

‘You didn’t joke about it. You all right?’ she jested.

He sighed a little looking at her. ‘I’m sorry,’ he suddenly said.

‘What for?’

‘Things have been … I’m just …’ He trailed off, and shrugged. ‘Just sorry. For so many things.’

Now she was concerned. ‘Don’t be an idiot. Nothin’ to be sorry for,’ she told him.

He didn’t reply, just gazing up. She regarded him for a moment before she moved to him, curling into his embrace, her head on his shoulder. She slipped her hand inside his shirt.

He stiffened, alarmed. ‘Rose,’ he warned.

‘Don’t,’ she said, drawing her hand out to cup his chin. She kissed him fully on the lips and lingered, her hot breath blowing into his open mouth. ‘I want you.’

‘I’ll get you pregnant,’ he said.

‘Maybe that’s what we want?’ she asked breathily, still not moving.

‘It is?’ he asked.

‘I think we both found that out the other day.’

He paused, just gazing into her eyes. Her hot breath was still blowing onto his face. He thought about Alex’s birth and the pain of it making him hurt so badly that he’d thought he was going to die. He remembered briefly hating Rose and Alex for putting him through it. He recalled seeing the stapled-together incision of the emergency caesarean on her. He recollected the morning after, of being unable to even move for a good few days due to the deep, terrible shock his body had taken.

He noted just how  _ much  _ it had hurt the second time compared to the first. And wondered how much worse it would be next time.

‘What are you thinkin’?’ she asked.

He didn’t reply, just moving his hand to pull down her trousers slightly. There, just above her groin and stretching to her navel, was the scar of the vertical c-section. The incision had healed to a raised red line. 

She was watching him. ‘You’ve never liked that scar, have ya?’

‘Takes me back,’ he admitted.

‘It’s okay,’ she told him.

‘I nearly lost you and Alex … And myself.’

‘But you didn’t,’ she said.

‘Why have you never let me heal the scar?’ he asked quietly. ‘I can get rid of it.’

‘Cos I’m proud of it,’ she told him. ‘I don’t wanna get rid of it.’

He was surprised at that. ‘You’re proud?’

‘When I look at it, I remember holdin’ Alex in my arms for the first time after he came out of the incubator.’

‘When I look at it, I remember the birth,’ he muttered, shuddering a little.

‘You gotta stop thinkin’ that way,’ she insisted. ‘That scar brought Alex into the world.’

‘But you shouldn’t have gone through that,’ he said. 

'This scar isn't just a scar, it's part of me. It's part of my story. Your story. Like yours.’ She pulled his shirt out of his trousers, exposing his abdomen. She pointed at the thin white lines running over him. So faint, but very much there as echoes from his deep, distant past. ‘D'you wanna get rid of those?’ 

He looked at her, then shook his head. ‘... No.’

‘Why not?’

‘Part of me, part of my story,’ he realised. ‘Part of  _ our _ story. Erasing the scar won’t erase the memory.’

‘Yeah,’ she said softly. ‘But if you still think my scar’s ugly then I'll let you get rid of it, yeah?’

‘No, no,’ he said quickly. 

‘You don’t think I’m … disfigured?’

‘No!’ the Doctor said quickly, his eyes wide. ‘No,  _ nothing  _ like that. I never,  _ ever _ thought it was ugly. I just … associate it with bad things.’

She took his hand and rested it on her scar. ‘Just love it,’ she said. ‘You of all people, c’mon. You should know that you can’t go through life only rememberin’ the bad stuff. Yeah, it was messy and I thought you and Alex would die at one point, but that night I got a son. Your son. We made him out of love. And that’s what I choose to remember when I look at this scar.’

‘I … guess,’ he murmured.

She kissed him again. ‘So, wanna get rid of it?’

‘... No.’

‘Sure?’

‘Yes.’ 

‘Okay,’ she said, and lowered his shirt again. 

‘When did you get so perceptive?’ he wondered, almost laughing.

‘Hey, I’ve been in your head. I know you. I know how you think.’

‘That’s … terrifying,’ he admitted, pulling a face. 

She laughed. ‘So … what d’you think? About another baby?’

He thought for a moment, and then looked at her. ‘I don’t know.’

‘You said you wanted another.’

‘I do, but I … I’m scared.’

‘Of the pain?’

‘Yeah. It might get worse.’

‘Or it might get better,’ she countered. ‘Alex was premature and the Proclamation messed that all up. Maybe all that made it hurt that much, yeah?’

‘Maybe.’

She gazed at him. ‘Can’t you make somethin’?’

‘What?’ 

‘Like, some painkiller that’ll numb you all over, or somethin’ that’ll just knock you out until I’m dilated?’

‘Maybe.’

‘Lots of maybes, tonight.’

‘I know,’ he replied, shrugging. 

‘We’ll have nine months to sort that out,’ she told him after a moment. ‘That’s loads of time.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, and sighed. Pause.

She frowned. ‘... Are you happy?’

He looked at her. ‘Right now? The Earth in post-apocalyptic state, all my friends thinking I’m dead, my family under constant threat? I’ve been happier.’

‘I mean, like ... in general,’ she said nervously.

He frowned. ‘... Yeah. I’m all right. Aren’t you?’

‘... I think so.’

They paused, looking at each other. 

‘Not really so sure, are we?’ he pointed out quietly.

There was a long pause.

‘... When the hell did this all change?’ Rose wondered.

‘I’ve got no idea,’ he confessed. ‘But I still love you.’

‘I love you too.’

‘Then why aren’t we happy anymore?’

Another long pause. The Doctor churned his sentence over in his mind.

‘... What are you thinkin’?’ she asked.

He grimaced. ‘You came here because you were worried about me, didn’t you?’

She swallowed. No point trying to save face. ‘Yeah, so?’

‘I  _ never  _ wanted that, not for you,’ he told her. ‘I promised myself that when I started all of this with you, I would make sure that you would never have to worry about anything. I’ve really done well with that, haven’t I?’ he said, vaguely gesturing around the room to indicate their current situation.

She snorted with laughter, but obviously noted his pained expression. ‘Are you serious?’ she asked. ‘When I accepted the bond, I didn’t imagine for one second that I wouldn’t have to deal with that stuff. That’s your life.’

‘My life is ridiculous,’ he said. ‘It’s insane. It makes no sense. My life has nearly killed you, nearly killed Leah, Alex … everyone we know.’ He paused, swallowing. ‘My entire life. I can’t stop. It never stops. Not even when I want it to. I just keep running, escaping the last thing only to crash into the next thing. … I used to like it.’

‘Now who’s bein’ overdramatic?’ she joked. He wasn’t laughing. She brushed back his hair and briefly kissed him. ‘What are you sayin’, exactly?’

‘I don’t know,’ he moaned, closing his eyes.

‘Maybe you want a break,’ she said, thinking as she spoke. ‘From everythin’ to do with that.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Can I ban that word, now?’ 

He smiled a little. ‘Yeah,’ he corrected. ‘I think I want a break from it all.’

‘Okay,’ Rose said, sitting up straight. ‘How about, after all this is done, we just stop for a bit, yeah?’

‘How?’

‘We can just stay in Torchwood a while with Jack? If I do get pregnant, we can just relax until he or she is born. Then if you like we can go back to what we were doin’ if we like.’

He thought about that. ‘Just stay with Jack? Not doing anything?’

She smirked. ‘Nah. You might say you want a holiday but I know you. You’ll be bouncin’ off of the walls after a week of nothin’. So we could join Torchwood. Kind of a freelance thing. Whenever we want. Some days we’ll stay with the kids and others we’ll join him. You can go on one of his missions whenever you like. Just to keep you tickin’ over, else you’ll go mad.’

‘Freelance,’ he repeatedly, musing for a moment. ‘... Whenever I want?’

‘Yeah. We’ll ground the Tardis in Torchwood for a while and say that freelancin’ pays for our parkin’ space.’

He snorted with laughter at that.

‘What d’you think?’ she asked.

‘I like it,’ he said.

‘Think it could work?’

‘May …’ He stopped himself, smiling. ‘... Yeah. I think it could.’

She grinned. ‘Now that’s sorted, another baby? I know you want one.’

His smile disappeared. ‘Rose, I …’

‘We’ll sort it. Whatever happens, yeah?’

He nodded. ‘Yeah.’

‘So we’re doin’ it?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Sure?’

‘Yeah.’

She grinned, and leant in to kiss his neck. Then she stopped. ‘Wait.’

‘What?’

‘You’re gonna get all the symptoms,’ she said. ‘We don’t have the medicine.’

‘It’ll take a few weeks for me to start needing it,’ the Doctor countered. ‘By then this’ll all be sorted.’

She smirked. ‘Only you.’

‘What?’

‘“Oh yeah, the post-apocalyptic Earth’ll all be sorted in a few weeks”,’ she said in a mock-Doctor voice.

He grinned. ‘Well, it will.’

She laughed, and moved to straddle him, loosening his tie. ‘Tell me if I’m hurtin’ your leg.’

‘I’ll scream,’ he assured her. 

‘Oh, and I want at least two hours out of this,’ she told him, grinning with her tongue between her teeth. ‘We’ve not done this for way too long.’

‘Think I can manage that,’ he said. ‘Hold on.’

He dug into his pocket and brought out the sonic, pointing it at the door. The door of the Observatory locked.

‘Ready?’ she asked. ‘And I don’t want any of your blood concentration to “help me” either.’

‘Anything else?’ he asked idly.

She giggled. ‘Nah,’ she said, and pulled off his shirt.

* * *

Three hours later and they’d only just got back their breath, lying naked next to each other in the starlight through the dome. After he’d finished, they’d taken ten minutes just to lie there in silence as the sweat subsided. She’d been staring at him as he twirled his fingers in her hair, staring up at the stars. They hadn’t needed to say anything. 

Finally, he looked at her. ‘How was that?’

‘Great.’

‘I was worried,’ he confessed. ‘I don’t have my notebook.’

She rolled her eyes. Every time they had sex, he was insistent of having his self-written step-by-step guide on how to please a human woman open on the bedside table since they’d started. He wasn’t a sexual species by definition, lacked any kind of sexual need, and didn’t really know how to do it, so she’d accepted it. It was kind of sweet in a way as it was his way of making her human body happy through extensive research in a very Doctor-ish way. Reducing the entire act of sex down to its most scientific level with her needs at the most forefront of his research had most definitely improved the process compared to her previous sexual partners. Plus, he strived for perfection. The first few times they’d had sex he’d tried to hide his guide from her, but she’d found it one day, and since then he’d been checking with her during each encounter on every step whether it was maximising her sexual pleasure and adjusting his variables accordingly like any good scientist, until he had a very good sexual itinerary.

‘You don’t need it anymore,’ she assured him. ‘You’ve got this now.’

‘I’m sure I missed out step two hundred and four.’

‘I honestly didn’t notice if you did,’ she told him.

‘Maybe I should put clitoral stimulation there, then?’ he suggested in a very business-like manner.

She snorted with laughter. ‘Yeah, maybe.’ She stretched, looking down herself. ‘Am I pregnant yet?’

He lazily reached out for his sonic and swept it over her womb. The sonic didn’t respond. ‘Nothing yet. Was only a few minutes ago, though, give them a chance. My guys are smart and armour-plated but they’re no Michael Phelps.’

Rose laughed. ‘Can’t believe it. We’re actually gonna have another baby and we’re not freakin’ out about it.’ She looked at him. ‘Boy or girl?’

‘Girl,’ he said, and thought about that. ‘No, wait, Leah won’t like that. Better be a boy.’

She smirked. ‘I bet he’ll look like you. Little skinny guy with big brown hair. He’ll be super smart and utterly beautiful. Then when he’s ten he’ll turn out to have some really amazin’ talent.’

The Doctor laughed.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘You’re not even fertilised yet and you’re already planning their graduation.’

‘I’m just lookin’ forward to it,’ she said, smiling. ‘Never really could with the last two.’

‘Yeah,’ he said, smiling. 

‘How long till we’ll know?’

‘Few weeks,’ he replied. ‘About the time I start getting the symptoms we’ll be able to tell the gender.’

She grinned, and kissed him again. ‘Happy now?’

‘Yeah,’ he replied, beaming. ‘Really, really happy.’


	8. Telepathy 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor does his second lesson on being a gallifreyan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is one of those chapters someone dubbed my 'speciality'. "Hurrah! We're happy! ... Oh, wait, wtf just happened?"
> 
> For the memory Rose doesn't want the Doctor to see, that's buried amid this saga in 'Time', chapter 24.

‘Telepathy,’ the Doctor announced the next morning to his children, sitting on their bed. ‘It’s a practical, today.’

Leah looked up, alert. ‘We’re gonna do telepathy?’

‘Well, we’ll try,’ the Doctor said. ‘Okay. Three types of telepathy. Proximal, middle and distal. Proximal telepathy is by direct contact. Middle telepathy is by close range, within about twenty miles. Distal telepathy is from a distance. Then you’ve got two paths within those – active, which is the path of projecting those thoughts, and passive, which is the path of receiving those thoughts. Therefore, if I touch your head to read your thoughts, what am I doing?’

'Proximal passive telepathy,’ Leah said promptly, scribbling down her notes.

'Yep. And if say, I went to Jarpa Minor and you could send me your thoughts from here, what are you doing?’

'Distal active telepathy,’ Leah replied.

'Excellent. Right, so, absolutely everyone in the universe is telepathic. Anything with a brain, pretty much.’

‘Um, what?’ Rose asked. ‘Even humans?’

‘How d’you think the Tardis translation works?’ he asked.

‘Oh,’ Rose muttered.

‘She accesses your telepathic areas without causing any unnecessary feedback,’ he explained. ‘She accesses at your own telepathic level and keeps absolutely in tune with you constantly. If she didn’t, you’d be having migraines and nosebleeds, and she could even damage that area of your brain by cracking it open. It’s like she’s boring a hole into some wood, with the wood being your telepathic area. If she wasn’t hard enough she wouldn’t reach you, but if she went too hard, she’d split the wood. Geddit?’

‘Yeah, great,’ Rose muttered, rubbing her head.

He turned back to his children. ‘Okay, practical. So put away the notepad.’

‘No, I’m gonna need to make notes,’ Leah insisted, scribbling away. The Doctor glanced at Rose, who smirked. He rolled his eyes, took the notepad from his daughter, and snapped it shut.

‘Hey!’ Leah protested. 

He ignored her, throwing it out of her reach. ‘Read my thoughts. What number am I thinking of?’ 

Leah sighed, and leant forward to press her fingers to his temple. ‘Fifteen,’ she said.

‘Wrong.’

Leah looked surprised. ‘What?’

‘Fifty. Close.’

‘Oh,’ Leah muttered.

‘If you just put your fingers on someone’s head and quickly grab something, it’ll be close, but not accurate,’ the Doctor said. ‘Read my mind again, just like you did.’

Nervously, Leah put her fingers to his temple. ‘I dunno.’

‘It’s a song you know, in gallifreyan,’ he encouraged.

‘Um … arka’ishak’ei …’

‘No, no,’ the Doctor interrupted, grinning a little. ‘You just said "sofa ugly me". This is the problem when you do telepathy like this. It’s like playing Chinese Whispers. Close your eyes, both of you.’

Leah and Alex simultaneously shut their eyes.

‘You’ve done this before, but this time we’re doing it properly. Keep your eyes closed, and relax. This is going to sound strange, but I want you to try and move to the back of your head, inside your head. If you can, there’s a little spark in there, like an on switch. Activate it, and try again.’

Leah nodded, and reached up to his temples again.

‘Arr kai’shaa cee’ahh terr ce’chi-foo’chaa tii-n …’ she said out loud, then opened her eyes. ‘Oh!’ 

‘Got it?’

‘N-ara kai’shaa terna ce’folari’chai!’ she sang happily.

He beamed.

‘Um, what?’ Rose asked, bewildered.

He reached for her fingers, and pressed the tips to his head. ‘You have a certain degree of telepathy with me, because of the bond. We did it before. Try it.’

She did, concentrating. Nothing happened. ‘It’s not workin’.’

‘You can,’ he encouraged. ‘Just concentrate, Let your mind open.’

She did, harder this time.

‘Don’t force it. I’ll help you if you just relax.’

She relaxed a little. After a few seconds, she began to hear his voice in her head, alien words she could barely comprehend singing along to a tune she recognised …

_ N-ara kai’shaa terna ce’folari’chai! N-kai’wi-mii playi, rio’ei’bann-o! Miho’qe’ber-ia tera ei’mii, ei’arr-o-n! N-bii kai’shaa terna ce’folari’chai! Faa’n-qe’ber zhi, zhi, zhi! Faa’n-qe’ber fii, fii, fii! Faa’ber’buu ... _

‘Oh my god, are you singin’ One Direction?’ she realised.

He laughed. ‘I think it went oh, oh, oh …’

‘I think it went yeah, yeah, yeah!’ Leah sang.

‘Faa’n-ber’buu!’ the Doctor completed.

‘Bloody hell,’ she said. ‘Of all the songs. What about Backstreet Boys?’

He laughed, and looked back at his children. ‘Can either of you do it middle? Don’t touch me. What poem am I thinking of?’

Leah squeezed her eyes so hard in concentration that her face turned red.

‘That’s a no?’ he supposed, and looked at Alex. ‘Alex?’

The boy shook his head. 

‘I weary for desires never guessed, for alien passions, strange imaginings, to be some other person for a day. The Starling, Amy Lowell,’ the Doctor said.

‘I couldn’t get it,’ Leah wailed.

‘Don’t worry, I can generally only do proximal too,’ he assured her. ‘As a rule, Time Lords and Ladies stick to proximal. We have the capabilities to do middle, or even distal in some cases, but that’s only for the really well-trained. But you don’t just read minds with telepathy. You can do a little bit of shuffling in other people’s heads. Erasing memories; creating memories; searching memories. It can be destructive, but it can be healing, too. Also, telepathic contact is where if you have several telepathic beings, you can form a sort of hive mind.’

‘Can we try?’ Leah asked eagerly.

He shook his head. ‘You’re too young at the moment. It’s a real energy-zapper.’

‘I can do it,’ Leah insisted.

‘You really can’t,’ he replied. ‘When you’re older.’

‘Oh,’ Leah muttered, disappointed.

‘For now you can just read minds, but I wouldn’t advise making a habit of it. And always tell the person you’re doing it to what you’re doing if they’re not used to it. Else that gets quite a bad reaction. I once got smacked in the head by an old lady’s handbag.’

Everyone giggled.

‘And it's all about consent. Whoever you’re doing it to, make sure that they know they have a defence. If they imagine a door and close it, then don’t go through, because it’s something they don’t want you to see.’

‘Like what?’ Leah wondered.

‘Everyone’s got their secrets,’ he replied, shrugging. ’You could go through if you wanted to, but don’t. It’s impolite. Oh, and I discovered fairly recently, that if you enter someone's mind, they can enter your mind if they have enough intuition to do it and you’re not paying attention.’

‘How do you defend your mind, then?’ Rose asked. ‘Is this the shield thing?’

He nodded. ‘You can put up walls in your head. It works the same as the doors, except it’s much more difficult to get past walls. They’re not completely impenetrable, but they’ll defend against most intruders.’

‘How d’you get the walls?’ Leah asked.

‘Years of contemplation, for me,’ he replied. ‘I spent fifty solid years meditating with monks on Taboo Minor.’

‘Have I gotta go meditate with monks?’ Leah asked.

Rose snorted with laughter. The Doctor smiled. ‘Nah. Not yet. When you’re older, we’ll think about the monks,’ he joked.

‘Okay!’ Leah replied happily.

‘That’s about all you need to know for now, really. Most of the telepathy will happen later. Your brain’s not quite ready for any advanced techniques.’

Leah sighed. ‘Why do grown-ups get all the fun?’

‘Oh, believe me, growing up was the worst thing I ever did with my life,’ he told her. ‘Don’t do it. Now go and play.’

‘Okay!’ Leah said hugging them in turn, taking her brother’s hand and pulling him quickly out of the door.

He looked at Rose. ‘Okay?’ he wondered.

‘Fine,’ she assured him.

He pulled out his sonic and swept it over her belly. ‘Fertilised.’

She smiled. ‘Yeah?’

‘Yep. One embryo. No twins.’

She giggled. ‘Imagine that.’

‘Not sure I want to,’ he confessed, grinning. ‘Hey, something I wanted to ask.’

‘What?’

‘When I told them about regeneration, you asked about stealing bodies. Where did you get that from?’

‘What? Nowhere,’ Rose replied. Even to herself she sounded terribly unconvincing.

He frowned. ‘Rose?’

‘It was just hypothetical, yeah?’

He gazed at her for a moment. She knew he was working it out. She had to make an escape. ‘I’m gonna go and see Sarah Jane …’ she said quickly, trying to make an exit.

‘Wait,’ he realised, his eyes suddenly shooting wide open as he stood up, obstructing her way to the door. ‘I’ve only just thought. You got inside my mind after the regeneration. You have no idea about telepathy. How did you get inside my mind?’

‘It doesn’t matter …’

‘Does this have to do with stealing bodies?’

She felt very, very uncomfortable. ‘Look, I … I had help.’

‘From who?’

There was a long pause. The Doctor stared at her, analysing her.

‘I don’t know,’ she said. 

‘You’re lying,’ he stated.

‘No. I don’t know who he was.’

The Doctor took her chin in his hand, pulling her to face him. ‘Look me in the eye and tell me that.’

After a few awkward moments of avoiding his gaze, she finally steeled herself and looked him directly in the eye. ‘I don’t know who he was,’ she stated firmly.

‘I know you’re lying.’

She pulled her face out of his hand. ‘It’s not a lie.’

‘Yes, it is. Who was he?’

‘Brax. It was Brax.’

His eyes narrowed. ‘Well that’s a lie, because Brax didn’t turn up until later. Why are you lying? Who was it?’

She sighed. Nothing was going to satisfy him except the truth. ‘It was … the Master.’

‘You what!?’ he yelled.

She swallowed nervously. ‘Look, he was okay. He was good. I know it’s hard to believe but he really helped.’

The Doctor stared at her. ‘Rose. Tell me what’s going on!’

She stood up, backing away from him. ‘No, I can’t.’

He got up and rounded on her. ‘This is dangerous,  _ tell me  _ what’s happening, what did the Master do to you?’

She was backed up against the wall, now. ‘I can’t.’

He placed his hand on the wall next to her head, leaning in. ‘Tell me.’

‘No, please don’t …’

‘Tell me!’

‘Doctor,’ she whined. ‘Stop it!’

_ ‘Tell me!’ _

* * *

The tone of his voice was so horrible that he even surprised himself. It was only then he registered the fact that she looked scared. Scared of him. He quickly pulled away, horrified. ‘Sorry,’ he said, hands in the air. ‘I’m sorry.’

For a moment she just stared at him – a deer caught in the headlights. Then she was moving.

‘Don't follow me,’ she said, and ran out of the door.

‘Rose! I’m sorry!’ he called after her, but she was gone.

He groaned and dropped to lie spread-eagled on the bed, staring at the metal ceiling. The sudden urge to go and talk about it with Jack overcame him. Almost immediately he dismissed the thought. He was sure wanting to go and talk to Jack about his emotions and relationship issues was a sign of him going absolutely mad.

He had no idea how long he laid there, staring at the ceiling. His inactivity was only broken by the sound of his communicator. From the sound, he knew it was Leah. He reached over lazily, and picked it up.

‘Hello?’

* * *

Trevor. 

The name had been rolling around in her head for quite a while now, as Rose sat in the communal area with a cup of tea, staring at a wall, trying desperately to rationalise her thoughts.

Trevor – the name Jack had given to the dark side of the Doctor in an attempt to make a joke out of it. It had been a very long time since she’d seen Trevor emerge. So long, in fact, that she’d thought Trevor had gone, but he was clearly still there, just below the surface of her husband, ready to emerge. As Rose had watched, his face has begun to change into the expression only Trevor had – the one she couldn’t describe, besides the utter darkness in his eyes; cold, distant, and so far removed from sanity. 

It was the closest she’d ever felt to actually being threatened by him.

She looked down to her belly, where inside she knew she was growing another gallifreyan. For the very first time in their relationship, she considered the notion that this had been an  _ excruciatingly  _ bad idea. 

The thought was fleeting, but it was still a thought. A thought she didn’t like having.

She’d known perfectly well when she’d carried his first child that Trevor existed, but he’d never actually made her feel threatened. She’d decided after Trevor’s first appearance that it was something she was just going to have to deal with. It wasn’t his fault, after all. As Braxiatel had explained, it was conditioning. A reflex put in by his race in order to fight a war. Only, no one had told his reflex that the war was over.

She finally took a sip of tea, and immediately choked and spewed it back out into the cup. It was stone cold.

Suddenly her communicator sounded, and the Doctor’s voice came through.

_ ‘Rose, are you there?’ _

She ignored it.

_ ‘Rose, I’m sorry, but this is urgent.’ _

She ignored it again.

_ ‘Rose, please. It’s Alex. His illness has got a lot worse.’ _

Immediately she panicked, grabbing her communicator and in her haste nearly hitting the wrong switch. ‘What? What is it?’

_ ‘Leah just contacted me. They were playing and Alex suddenly coughed so hard there was traces of blood, he couldn’t breathe and turned blue. Unit are with him now, he’s being taken to the infirmary.’ _

‘Oh my god!’ she gasped. ‘He’s gonna be all right?’

He didn’t answer that.  _ ‘It’s bad, Rose. I’ll meet you at the infirmary.’ _

She got up, and ran.

* * *

For the next two hours, the Doctor, Rose and Leah were moving around the hospital, following Alex’s path until they ended up in the Intensive Care Unit where the two-year-old was decorated with IVs and apparatus to help him breath. He was awake, although didn’t seem to be that aware as Rose held him between examinations. Occasionally the medics had to ask the Doctor about suitable medications and the boy’s physiology, but it was all completely meaningless to Rose as she continued to hold him whenever she could. She was finally pulled away when a doctor updated them on the situation.

‘His RSV has developed into severe bacterial pneumonia,’ she explained. ‘He’s having a lot of problems breathing. A chest x-ray revealed a  parapneumonic effusion. We’ve managed to stop his vomiting, even out his haemoglobin and bring down his fever, but he’s still only semi-conscious. We’re just assessing the severity of the parapneumonic effusion, though we have already started antibiotics, so at the moment it’s a waiting game. Do you have any questions I can help with?’

The Doctor had asked a few questions, but Rose hadn’t been listening, just feeling slightly numb. The nurse had then left, and Rose looked at her husband. ‘What’s a para-thingy?’

‘Pus on the lung,’ the Doctor replied. ‘If antibiotics don’t shift it then he’ll need draining.’

‘He’s … okay, yeah?’

Once again, the Doctor avoided answering that. ‘We’ve just got to wait.’

‘Oh god,’ she moaned, and started crying.

He quickly held her. ‘We caught it early,’ he stated, as Leah came running over. She stopped in front of them, taking one look at her mother before hugging her tightly.

‘Alex gonna be okay, Mummy,’ she told her informatively.

Rose tried to smile, but mostly failed. ‘Thank you.’

‘Hey, you’re a hero,’ the Doctor told Leah. 

‘I am?’ she asked, bewildered.

‘If you’d waited any longer to contact me he might have had a seizure,’ the Doctor replied. ‘You were amazing.’

Leah beamed. ‘Yeah, I am!’ she agreed. ‘But he’s gonna be fine isn’t he?'

Rose looked at the Doctor. For the third time, he didn’t answer that. ‘He just needs loads of rest and loads of love from us right now.’

‘Can I draw him a card?’ Leah wondered.

‘Yeah, of course,’ the Doctor replied, and with one final hug for them both she ran out of the infirmary.

Rose looked at the Doctor. He was gazing at her.

‘Look, about earlier …’ he began.

‘God, you think I wanna talk about that now?’ she asked seriously, wiping at her eyes. 

‘No, I need to explain,’ he persisted. ‘If the Master did that, that means he’s been inside your head. And you know the kinds of things he can do with people’s heads.’

She sniffed, looking at him. ‘... You scared me.’

‘Because I was scared,’ he continued, and raised his fingers in indication he wanted to touch her temple. ‘And I’m so sorry. Can I look in your head? I need to check he hasn’t done anything to you. Please.’

She sighed, and nodded.

He touched her temples, and closed his eyes. As always, the feeling of him inside her head was far more comfortable than alarming, almost like he was  _ meant  _ to be inside there. It always felt pleasurable to have him wandering around inside her head. It felt like a tiny version of him fluttering inside like a butterfly.

She quickly remembered about the doors, and put one up in front of the memory of the alternative future the Master had shown her, as well as all the thoughts she’d had this morning. The Doctor couldn’t know. She felt him inside her head, approaching the door, and then backing away obediently.

It didn’t take long. By now he knew his way around her mind. After a few minutes he finally drew away. ‘Okay. You’re normal. He hasn’t done anything to you, not that I can see, anyway.’

She nodded, still wiping at her eyes. She caught sight of their son again, the doctors finally leaving him alone. Without another word she got up and went back to him with the Doctor following her. She hugged and kissed her sick son as finally Harry arrived.

‘Doctor,’ Harry acknowledged, taking Alex’s chart to look at it. ‘How are we doing, old boy?’

The Doctor pulled a face, not answering that. ‘What’s your personal prognosis?’

‘Very much depends on how he reacts to the antibiotics to clear his lungs of the effusion,’ Harry replied. ‘I’m not a paediatrician, however. Most definitely not a xenopaediatrician. Any help you can give us when we need it will be appreciated.’

‘Anything,’ the Doctor assured him.

‘I anticipate he’ll be staying with us in intensive care for some to come,’ Harry continued. ‘He’s not yet completely stable. If the antibiotics are effective, he has a very good prognosis.’

The Doctor nodded. ‘Yeah,’ he croaked, wincing a little at his leg as he shifted his stance slightly.

Harry noticed. ‘Want me to check on that wound, old boy?’

‘Nah, I’m fine.’

‘Go get it checked,’ Rose told him. ‘You need it.’

The Doctor paused momentarily, and then nodded again. He looked at Harry. ‘Be right there.’

Harry confirmed, and left. The Doctor quickly limped to Rose. ‘You gonna be okay?’

She was so zoned out she almost forgot to reply to him. ‘... Yeah,’ she replied eventually, gazing at their semi-conscious son. 

He frowned. ‘Sure?’

‘Yeah. Sorry, I’m just a bit …’

‘I know,’ he interrupted. ‘This is why I’m being calm. You panic while I’m calm, and I’ll panic while you’re calm. That was the deal when he was born, right?’

She finally raised a smile, and turned around to kiss him. 

He obligingly responded. ‘We’re okay?’

‘Of course we are, you idiot,’ she said, but didn’t manage a smile as she continued to watch Alex. ‘Go and get your leg checked. I’ll be here.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation   
> Trans / Clean / (Literal)  
> N-ara kai'shaa terna ce'folari'chai / And we danced all night to the best song ever / (And we danced with the perfect song)  
> N-kai'wi-mii playi, rio'ei'bann-o / We knew every line, now I can't remember / (We knew (every) rhyme, now I can't remember)  
> Miho'qe'ber-ia tera ei'mii, ei'arr-o-n / How it goes but I know, that I won't forget her / (How it goes but I know, I won't forget)  
> N-bii kai'shaa terna ce'folari'chai / Cos we danced all night to the best song ever / (Cos we danced with the perfect song)
> 
> Faa'n-qe'ber zhi, zhi, zhi / I think it went oh oh oh / (Think it went oi, oi, oi)  
> Faa'n-qe'ber fii, fii, fii / I think it went yeah yeah yeah / (Think it went yeah yeah yeah)  
> Faa'ber'buu / I think it goes / (Think it to go)


	9. Only Human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie finds out about Rose as Torchwood begin to mobilise. The Doctor also prepares to leave, but runs into a serious problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hold onto your hats, this train's speeding up. Also, incoming whump.

Jack had to admit, he was feeling like a bit of a jerk. Whilst he’d been feeling sorry for himself for five days, everyone else had been painstakingly cleaning and rebuilding the Torchwood base to the degree it was almost now fully-functional and fairly hygienic. So much so, that he was able to get everyone out of the TARDIS to have a meeting in the Torchwood conference room at 10am. It was him, Seth, Gwen, Ianto, Mickey and Martha, and he had Kiana on his knee and a hotline to Zak in the infirmary, who had improved significantly in the four days. Otherwise, it was pretty much normal Torchwood, just without the pizza, and without the gallifreyan hybrid family.

‘So, you’ve got nothing,’ Jack assumed the moment they all sat down.

Gwen looked so apologetic. ‘There’s just no trace. They’ve completely vanished. They're not on the Tardis systems, and we can't even detect alien biology.’

‘But there are spots of activity,’ Ianto told him quickly before he could react. ‘Concentrated populations of people up and down the country. Being Unit, they’re probably shielded, but I think Unit would have the most vehicles. And there’s a lot of vehicle activity in west Scotland and north Wales. They probably couldn't have done all of that in time if they had to drive to Scotland, so they're most likely to be in north Wales.’

‘Then that’s where we’re going,’ Jack decided, bouncing Kiana on his knee, who was gurgling and giggling. ‘Let’s go tonight.’

‘We need to provision, first,’ Ianto pointed out. ‘We need to find a car and enough fuel to get us there.’

‘We also need a plan,’ Martha said. ‘We can’t just charge in.’

‘Yeah, gotta be stealthy,’ Seth agreed.

Jack sighed. The realisation of more waiting was excruciating, but they were right, of course. ‘Okay. Though I want to head out as soon as we possibly can. We don’t know what kind of danger Rose and the kids are in exactly, but either way I want them all the hell out of there before Unit has a chance to do anything. Rose said the family are in danger, and that’s enough for me.’

‘What’s that about my Rose?’ a voice suddenly interrupted from the doorway, and they all looked up. Jackie was standing there, looking aghast in the deathly silence that followed. Even Kiana stopped gurgling.

Jack winced. ‘Nothing, Jackie, don’t worry,’ he said eventually.

Jackie’s expression abruptly turned to thunder. ‘Don’t worry?’ she repeated. ‘You just said my family were in danger!’

Jack looked at his employees. None of them offered any help. He rapidly decided he couldn't brush Jackie off. ‘Look, we, err, we got a communication from Rose.’

'And you didn't tell me!?’ Jackie yelled.

‘Rose ... she asked me not to.’

‘Why?’

Jack sighed. He couldn’t avoid it now. ‘… You need to watch the video.’

* * *

After five days, Alex was stable and out of the Intensive Care Unit. Rose had been with him every hour of the day she wasn’t sleeping, content just to sit by him, reading to him from books. The Doctor had been in and out, but had mostly been keeping Leah entertained and trying to heal his leg faster with frequent visits to Ollie the physiotherapist. It seemed to be working, as his limp had disappeared.

That morning Alex was asleep, and the Doctor turned up with a skip in his step and a sandwich in his hand, smiling.

‘How’s he doing?’ he asked, nodding to Alex.

‘He’s fine. Been asleep most of today. Good news?’ she asked.

'I'm good to go,’ the Doctor replied through mouthfuls. 'Ollie just signed me off for active duty, whatever that means.’

She smiled. 'Did they have a plan?’

'Oh yes,’ he said. 'They wanted to give me my own army and probably more weapons than used in the Somme.’

She giggled. 'What did you settle with?’

'A bottle of water and this,’ he said, holding up a small silver box.

'What’s that?’ 

He grinned, and clicked a button. Almost immediately he vanished, replaced by a new man - blond and well-built.

Rose jumped, shocked. 'What …?’

The man waved, grinning. 'Hello!’ he said, and clicked the button again. This time he was a young adult with black hair and a prominent nose. He beamed, and threw the black button to her, She caught it, as the black-haired man disappeared and the Doctor came back.

‘Try it,’ he encouraged.

‘Is this …?’ Rose tried, and clicked the button. She felt a strange, pins and needles sensation shoot over her skin, and she realised a mess of brown hair was over her face. She pulled it back and checked the nearest reflective surface. There was a brown-haired woman with a big chin staring back at her, looking incredibly confused. ‘Oh my god.’

‘Good, isn’t it?’ the Doctor said, laughing as she gave it back to him, and her normal blonde hair and shocked face came back. ‘Shimmer, well, a random shimmer. Bodies only last thirty minutes. Essentially a shimmer for parties. I found it in their tech lab. They've got a whole other level here full of people in lab coats. Nice place.’

'Bet you were lovin’ it,’ Rose said. ‘All that tech stuff.’

'Yeah,’ he admitted, finishing his sandwich.

‘When d’you think we’ll go?’

‘We’ll?’ the Doctor repeated, raising an eyebrow. ‘You can’t be serious.’

Rose frowned. ‘What?’

‘You’re pregnant,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what this race is or what they’re capable of. They’re interested in me, they know who I am, and they’ll be able to exploit the baby.’

Rose sighed. She hadn’t thought about that before. She wasn’t happy, but he did have a point. ‘Okay. Just do it and get back quick, yeah?’

He grinned. ‘Yeah. Oh.’ He pulled something out of his pocket and gave it to her. ‘Happy birthday.’

‘Um, what?’ Rose asked, confused, taking the gift wrapped box.

‘It’s your birthday,’ he told her.

‘Is it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Oh.’

‘Come on,’ he prompted, gesturing at the box. ‘Open it! Made it myself.’

That made her a little nervous. ‘Hold on. It’s not gonna be another bear affair is it?’

‘A what affair?’

‘You know, that birthday present you made – the bear that was s’posed to respond like it was sentient, and when I opened the box it told me to fuck off and burst into flames?’

‘I didn’t anticipate the effect of overheating of the plynid conduits I used,’ the Doctor said, slightly embarrassed. ‘Won’t happen this time, I promise.’

She smirked, and opened the box. Inside were three strange rocks attached to long pieces of string in a loop. She picked one up, confused.

‘I found a skelan type-8 meteor in that science lab. It has biocryptic properties which you can get the effect of through osmosis if you can use the right oscillations to stimulate the crystalline structure to diffuse the molecules.’

‘It’s got what now?’

‘Err, it’s a bit of a rock which hides your biology when you wear it because I sonicked it,’ he clarified, shrugging.

‘You coulda just said that,’ Rose replied, rolling her eyes. 

‘But I wouldn’t look half as smart,’ the Doctor replied, grinning. ‘Anyway, there’s one for you and each of the kids. They should keep you all hidden from any scanners searching for alien biology. It’s not a hundred percent, but it should do to keep you all safe.’

She smiled, and kissed him. ‘Thank you.’

‘No problem,’ he replied, smiling. ‘I’d better find Leah. See you in a bit.’

* * *

The Doctor reached the playroom, in an eternally good mood. He approached the door and rested a hand on the handle, when suddenly he felt someone move up behind him.

‘Oi,’ a voice said.

He turned, and registered the man. He recognised him immediately. ‘Oh, hello. Aren’t you …?’

‘Get him!’ the man yelled, and suddenly the Doctor found himself being attacked from behind by a windmill of arms and legs of about five or six people. He yelped in alarm, struggling, but it was impossible to fight them off. Seconds later he felt something cold slide into his neck. They were injecting him with something.

Just a few seconds later he was losing focus. ‘What are you … do … ing …’ he managed to moan out, but his legs no longer seemed to work. He found his entire body was going numb, stars spiralling in front of his eyes as the world around him warped and merge, until only the face of the man remained, smirking.

The Doctor knew his face. It was the waiter at the restaurant. The very one Rose had thought had figured him out. 

He should have listened to her.

‘Alien trash,’ the man spat, as the blackness became absolute.

* * *

The Doctor woke up.

It was a slow affair, as he groaned and raised his head slightly, blinking for clarity. Eventually his vision sharpened, and he saw the waiter standing in front of him, gazing at him with utter contempt. Surrounding him were several other humans, all looking utterly furious. The Doctor himself was lying on the floor, bound at the hands and feet quite rudimentarily with various pieces of clothing.

The waiter stepped up to him. ‘Bet you thought you got away with it, didn’t you?’ the man spat, spittle flying in the Time Lord’s face.

‘What?’ the Doctor asked, still half-dazed.

‘Alien fucker,’ the man said. ‘Thought you’d infiltrate our base and blow us all up, did you?’

The Doctor swallowed. He had to play this carefully. Scared human. That seemed right. ‘I … I don’t know what you’re talking about ...’

The waiter kicked him in the stomach. The Doctor was taken completely by surprise as he coughed and choked.

‘Thought you’d kill all our women and children didn’t you!?’ the waiter yelled, to a chorus of jeers from his associates.

‘Please, I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ the Doctor said as anxiously as he could. ‘I’m human. I’m human just like you, please let me go!’

‘Liar!’ the waiter yelled, and kicked him again, this time harder.

‘I don’t!’ the Doctor cried. ‘I’m John Smith, I’m a doctor, I lived in Shrewsbury with my wife and my two kids. We had a dog called Pluto …’

‘I know  _ exactly  _ what you are!’ the waiter screamed, kicking him for a third time. ‘You alien fucker! You lying piece of shit!’

‘I’m n-not lying!’ the Doctor yelled between coughs.

‘Kill him, Samuel!’ one of the crowd cried.

‘No. No way. My mum is  _ dead  _ because of the aliens and I’m gonna make him suffer!’ Samuel cried, kicking him again, this time in the chest. Pain burst through the ribs on the Doctor’s right side.

It was no use, the Doctor realised. He had no idea how they could know about him, but suddenly it didn’t even  _ matter  _ if he was an alien or not. They  _ were  _ going to eventually kill him. They were utterly blinded by hate. ‘Please, just listen to me, Samuel …’

‘Don’t use my name!’ Samuel cried, kicking him so hard this time he rolled a little across the floor, gasping. ‘Fuck you and all of you!’

‘I know you’re an-angry and you’re h-hurting, but ...’ Another kick interrupted him. ‘We can sort this out!’ he gasped.

‘No, no, no, no, no!’ Samuel cried, slamming a kick into him with every single word.

‘Samuel! Wait!’ one of the crowd cried. The Doctor felt relief flood through him as Samuel paused, turning to them. But his relief didn’t last long as a man in glasses stepped forward. ‘Get some information from it, it’s an alien, it’s gonna know some stuff.’

‘Good point,’ Samuel said, and dropped to his haunches beside the Doctor. ‘Where are all your little fucking alien friends, then? You came from somewhere! Where are they all!?’

‘I d-don’t h-have any alien fr-friends,’ the Doctor moaned out.

‘Wrong answer!’ Samuel raged, and this time he picked him up by the lapels and threw him across the room. He wasn’t that strong, but it was enough to send the Time Lord crashing awkwardly into the wall. More pain fired through him. ‘Tell us where they are!’

‘I don’t know!’ the Doctor yelped.

Samuel grabbed his head and slammed it into the concrete wall. ‘Tell us right now!’

The Doctor’s head spun, but it hadn’t been with enough force to do any damage. ‘I’m n-not who you… who you think I am, sw-swear, my n-name’s John Sm-Smith … I have a f-family. Wh-whatever you think I am … I’m n-not … please.’

Samuel turned away again, his hands entangled in his hair. For a brief moment, the Doctor wondered if he was beginning to doubt himself, but Samuel just grabbed an abandoned chair and moved back to him, dragging him across the floor and hauling him up to sit on it. His body screamed protest, but all he could do was fire the endorphins. It was certainly the most amateur and crudest form of torture he’d ever had, but Samuel was repeatingly hitting the same spots, and if he kept going, something was going to snap.

‘Again,’ Samuel said, his face inches from the Time Lord’s. ‘Where are your friends?’

The Doctor decided to keep on the same track. Admitting he was an alien would be an incredibly stupid idea right now. ‘Wh-why won’t you … b-believe me!?’ he moaned.

Samuel punched him in the face. His head snapped back in an arch of spit. Barely a second after that, Samuel punched him in the face again, his lip splitting.

‘Tell us!’

‘I c-can’t!’ Punch.

‘Tell us!!!’

‘I …’

_ ‘John?’  _ Rose’s voice suddenly asked.  _ ‘John, are you there?’ _

Samuel stopped, frowning. ‘What the hell is that?’ he asked.

_ ‘John?’ _

‘Communicator,’ the Doctor almost gargled through the blood he could feel building in his mouth. ‘It’s my wife.’

Samuel immediately frisked him and located the black device, just as Rose spoke again.

_ ‘Doctor? Pick up!’ _

Samuel paused for a moment, before looking at the Time Lord. ‘It’s in your best interests to give her an “everything’s okay” message. Because you’re fucking dead if you do anything else.’

‘Ar-aren’t I d-dead anyway?’ the Doctor gasped.

‘Not yet,’ Samuel grated, and shoved the communicator in his face.

* * *

_ ‘Hey, sorry,’  _ the Doctor’s voice finally came through the communicator. Rose rolled her eyes and picked it up.

‘Finally! Where are you? Leah’s turned up and said you didn’t meet her. Come here.’

_ ‘Sorry, yes, I’ll be a few minutes,’  _ he said, with slightly less refined elocution than normal.

‘What’re you doin’?’

_ ‘I'm with Harry.’ _

Rose’s eyes drifted across the infirmary, where she could see Harry tending to another patient. Sarah looked too, and frowned. ‘Yeah?’ Rose asked. ‘What’re you doin’?’

_ ‘Oh, just reminiscing about this time we were in a sqoot eating contest. We're thinking of doing a pear eating contest tomorrow,’  _ he replied.

Rose paused. ‘... Why not jinkla nuts?’ she suggested. ‘Or possew toast. You love that. You'd win.’

_ ‘Good idea.’ _

‘Listen, my mum was talkin’ about you two havin’ a very long holiday together in Marbs. We’ll talk in a bit, but what d’you think?’

_ ‘Oh, I’d love to do that,’  _ he replied without a hint of sarcasm. _ ‘Better go, I'll see you in a bit and we can plan it.’  _

‘Okay. Don't worry, message received. Love you.’

_ ‘Thank you. Love you too.’ _

* * *

Rose hung up and looked at Sarah, alarmed. ‘The Doctor's in danger.’

Sarah looked confused. ‘How do you know?’

‘Because he knows damn well that Harry's here; he hates pears, jinkla nuts, and possew toast; and he'd rather be shot in the face than go on a long holiday to a place full of nightclubs with my mum.’

‘Oh no,’ Sarah moaned, hand over her mouth.

Rose hit the other switch on her communicator, directly to the Brigadier. ‘Brigadier?’

_ ‘Rose?’ _

‘I think the Doctor’s in serious trouble.’

* * *

Samuel threw the communicator away. The Doctor watched him cautiously. Rose knew. She was coming. He just had to work out how he was going to keep the crowd calm until she got there.

‘Pl-please,’ he said, having to spit out a dribble of blood in mid-word. ‘If y-you think there’s a … an alien h-here, tell Unit, they’ll …’

‘Unit? Unit won’t do anything, fucking alien-lovers!’ Samuel spat. ‘They just want all these stupid peace talks! Only way to win is to kill every single one of you!’

‘Wait, did that woman just call it Doctor?’ one of the crowd asked.

The Doctor’s hearts simultaneously sank. So much for keeping them calm. ‘No, it’s m-my nickname, it’s …’

‘She did!’ Samuel realised, wide-eyed. ‘Oh my God, you’re the Doctor!’

The hardest punch yet smacked right into his face; so hard the chair fell back and he hit the floor, utterly dazed.

‘Oh my god,’ Samuel said, and looked at his crowd. ‘What should we do with it?’

Everyone seemed to seriously think about that for a moment. Samuel moved over to them, conversing in whispers. The Doctor’s usually acute hearing couldn’t pick it up. His ears were ringing slightly from the previous punch.

After a moment, Samuel nodded, and turned to him with a smile on his face.

The Doctor could do nothing but lie there, helpless, as the incensed human advanced.

* * *

The tracker in the Doctor’s communicator had put him three floors below, in some disused area. Leaving Leah and Alex with Sarah and the guards in the infirmary, Rose met with the group of UNIT soldiers assigned to them and they’d sprinted to the steps, all within the space of two minutes.

She’d run so fast she’d nearly fallen down them, meeting the Brigadier halfway down. Wordlessly they continued onwards, down another flight of steps and into a rusty, unkempt area where they could hear the Doctor crying out.

His cries pulled them to the right room. The UNIT soldiers broke down the door immediately, nearly crushing several people. They charged inside, guns aloft as everyone froze on the spot.

‘Stop!’ the Brigadier ordered, pushing people aside like net curtains as he forced his way in. ‘What the  _ blazes  _ is going on here!?’ 

‘It’s an alien!’ a man insisted. 

‘I know,’ the Brigadier replied. ‘Step away.  _ Now.’ _

Rose followed inside, and cried out. There was the Doctor, lying on the floor by a chair, tied up, bleeding and semi-conscious.

‘What the hell have you done?’ she cried, running to her husband. He groaned and opened his eyes. His face was already swelling slightly. 

‘Leah, Alex,’ he gasped.

‘They’re fine, they’re safe,’ Rose told him quickly, looking him over. ‘Oh God …’

‘Just who was the architect of this!?’ the Brigadier demanded to know. There was a brief flicker of hesitation in the crowd.  _ ‘Who!?’ _

Finally, a man stepped forward. Rose recognised him. It was the waiter at the restaurant. ‘Me!’ he announced boldly. ‘I did it cos obviously you weren’t interested! It’s an alien and you knew and you didn’t do  _ anything!  _ Why are you defending it? It needs to  _ die!  _ It’s the Doctor!’

Rose sprang up, strode over to the man and with a crack almost loud enough to shake the room she slapped him across the face. ‘That’s my  _ husband!’ _

‘Die in hell, you alien!’ he screamed at her. ‘You’re pure fucking  _ evil!’ _

‘Oh, yeah!? I’m not an alien, and I’m not the one goin’ around killin’ things I don’t understand!’ she screamed in his face. ‘Just cos he’s an alien doesn’t make him evil! You don’t know him! You don’t know  _ any  _ of them! You just cheer when children get massacred! Just who the hell is evil here!?’

‘It killed  _ all  _ those people! It admitted to it on camera!’ the man yelled, pointing at the Doctor.

‘Rose, I think …’ the Brigadier tried to interrupt.

‘No! I’m not done!’ she interrupted, trembling with pure anger. ‘He had to, he was  _ made  _ to! It wasn’t him! He’s saved your stupid lives so many times you don’t even know, you have  _ no idea  _ about  _ anythin’!  _ You’re all sick, horrible people and he’s beautiful and clever and amazin’ and worth about  _ infinity  _ of you! He thinks so much of you and I don’t even know why and I’m human!’

‘Rose!’ the Brigadier cried, hand on her shoulder. ‘We will sort this. Go to the Doctor.’

Still livid, Rose took a deep breath, and moved back to the Doctor, who was staring at her through the mess on his face. She didn’t even acknowledge UNIT and the Brigadier escorting the crowd out of the room, the waiter screaming profanities.

‘R-rose,’ the Doctor choked.

‘Don’t tell me I’m wrong!’ she yelled. ‘I hate them! I hate  _ all  _ of them!’

‘No,’ he croaked. ‘Got an … an itch.’

Rose’s anger fell, as suddenly she found herself completely disarmed by his sentence. ‘What?’

‘Nose,’ he said. ‘Please?’

She tentatively reached up and scratched at the end of his nose for a moment.

‘Thanks,’ he said. ‘And y-you don’t.’

‘Don’t what?’

‘Hate ... them.’

She gritted her teeth. ‘Yeah, I do.’

‘It’s ok-okay. It w-wasn’t very g-good.’

Rose stared at him, utterly bewildered. ‘It wasn’t very good?’

‘W-wasn’t very g-good torture,’ he clarified. ‘I’m … I’m rating it ab-about three outta ten on the t-torture review w-website. Ad-adequate room, but not … creative. D-didn’t really know what … what they w-were doing. D-didn’t even h-have a knife. R-rubbish.’

For some reason, she found herself laughing at that. ‘Stop it,’ she said. ‘Stop makin’ me laugh. This is serious.’

He smiled at her. ‘Th-thanks for t-telling ‘em I was … I was the D-doctor, by the w-way. Really h-helped.’

Rose panicked. ‘I did?’

‘Y-yeah. They l-loved me … after that.’

‘Oh god,’ she moaned, brushing back his hair. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘S’ok. At l-least that … livened… up the d-day. I was … I was getting b-bored st-stuck here.’

She laughed again. ‘Stop,’ she insisted. ‘Please.’

He just smirked, closing his eyes.

‘No, stay with me,’ Rose told him. ‘I’m gonna go mad if you go away. Stay still and stay awake, yeah?’

His eyes opened again as he nodded, wincing. She moved behind him, untying his hands and feet carefully before moving back, just as footsteps arrived. Rose instinctively shielded the Doctor, but she quickly realised it was Harry.

‘Doctor,’ Harry said quickly, moving to him with a medical bag in hand. ‘Stay calm, old boy.’

‘Stay c-calm?’ the Doctor repeated disbelievingly, wincing badly and closing his left eye to try to prevent blood from his forehead slicking down into it. ‘What k-kind of l-line is  _ that?’ _

Rose giggled, and obligingly wiped the blood out of his eye with her sleeve. More medical staff quickly arrived, and she stayed with him every step of the way. Just as he promised, he stayed conscious, just for her.


	10. Fateless

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor’s entire life changes in one night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only taken about six stories, but we finally got there ...
> 
> Rose miscarried in Mother's Nature, and what REALLY happened to make her miscarry is at the end of Time. Leah discovered all of her toys could talk and they took her to a strange world in Mother's Nature.

The next few hours involved the Doctor being poked and prodded by various medical personnel, and having several needles stuck into him. The Doctor obviously wasn’t enjoying it, but clearly there wasn’t much he could do about it as any twinge of his muscles seemed to cause him a significant amount of pain. Rose had finally convinced him to accept a painkiller and the only one he'd deemed safe seemed to numb everything, including his brain. So he could only lie there in an analgesic-haze on various beds, being carted around for various scans, being tested for various problems. It had taken them a while to establish there was no internal damage, and finally they’d started cleaning him up.

Rose had been with him for most of it, only leaving to go and check on Alex and Leah intermittently. When she returned at 8 o’clock, he was lying there unmoving, his eyes sunken.

‘Doctor?’ Rose tried.

He looked at her, his eyes a little glassy. ‘Rose,’ he muttered.

‘How’s your drug trip goin’?’ she joked.

'Can't move. Feel great,’ he slurred, offering a wonky grin.

She smiled. ‘Alex is asleep. Leah’s fine. She wants to see you, but I thought we’d better wait until your face looks all right.’

The swelling had gone down very quickly, leaving only cuts and bruises, and one of his eyes bloodshot. His exposed torso was littered with dark, angry bruises and further lacerations, with his skin torn open by Samuel’s boot. Now the blood had been cleaned up it looked much less worse, and she was much more calm.

The Brigadier had visited to tell them the leak had been one of the cleaners on their wing, who'd been overhearing their conversations and spreading around a small group of people. He'd further asked if the Doctor would like to press charges, which would result in the entire group being kicked out of Snowdon, but of course both he and Rose already knew the Doctor's answer. The group were instead detained in the Brig indefinitely, and extra security had been assigned to the gallifreyan-human hybrid family. The Doctor was too drugged to protest, and Rose wasn’t going to disagree.

At 9 o’clock he fell asleep. Rose kissed him, and left.

* * *

‘Wakey, wakey Doctor,’ a voice said, rousing the Doctor to consciousness. 

The Doctor opened his eyes. He was in the hospital room, shirtless, hooked up to some IVs with the periodic beep of the monitor measuring his heartsrate beside him. It was dark and his vision was incredibly blurred, but he could see a shadowy figure standing next to him. It took him five seconds to realise in a haze of drugs that he could feel it was the Master.

Slightly panicked at his vulnerable state, he tried to move. He couldn’t. The drugs he’d been given were seeing to that. He was unable to move, he realised, and completely at the mercy of the Master. 

He took in a sharp gasp of breath. ‘Master. Get away from me.’

The Master laughed. ‘Oh, anything you say, Doctor. Post-haste, three bags full,’ he replied sardonically.

‘How did you get in here?’ the Doctor asked weakly. 

‘Magic,’ the Master drawled, and waved a hand over the Doctor’s eyes. The Doctor flinched. ‘How’s the vision? Bit blurry? Good.’

‘What do you want?’ the Doctor grunted, blinking desperately to try and focus his eyes. He couldn’t see the Master’s face, and that was seriously unnerving him.

‘I can’t believe you’d let the humans do this to you,’ the Master said, picking up the Doctor’s limp arm, waving it around gleefully before dropping it again. ‘Look at you. A Time Lord reduced to this because of some humans with racial issues.’

‘Don’t touch me.’

‘What, like this?’ The Master poked his stomach. ‘And this?’ He flicked the Doctor’s forehead. ‘Or this?’ He placed his hands around the Doctor’s neck, and squeezed.

The Doctor’s air cut off immediately. He began to choke, completely unable to defend himself ...

The Master let go, laughing. ‘Just joking,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t do that. Honest.’

‘Wh-what do y-you want?’ the Doctor asked, barely able to form the words.

‘Oh, I do love you when drugs make you even more dopey than usual,’ the Master teased.

‘What do y-you  _ want?’  _ the Doctor stressed.

The Master sighed, and sat on the bed beside him. ‘You’ve got some issues that I need to tell you about. And I don’t just mean your normal issues, I mean your deep,  _ deep  _ ones.’

‘What?’ the Doctor croaked.

‘The fact that the world is falling apart around you.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘My God,’ the Master laughed. ‘You seriously haven’t noticed? Not even a little bit? Time and space. It’s completely caving in around you.’

The Doctor frowned. ‘It’s not.’

‘Uh, yeah it is,’ the Master replied. ‘You remember when you got shot in Torchwood Tower? Did anything about that seem a bit  _ weird  _ to you?’

‘What?’ 

‘The elongation of a second,’ he supplied. ‘Here and there, little seconds are extending. Time is warping around you. The rules of space are breaking apart. Little Leah’s seen it too. Talking toys and strange worlds. I don’t think you took her seriously at the time, did you?’

‘I dunno what you’re talking about …’

‘People have been dying and people have been coming back to life around you. People are forgetting things too. A Jack from the past tried to shoot your son, remember that?’

‘I …’

‘Never even bothered to look into that?’

‘What?’

The Master sighed. ‘Why did that past version of Jack want to kill your son?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Think about it, at least. What did he shoot you with?’

‘I don’t know …’

‘Memories are slipping aren’t they,’ the Master pointed out. ‘You were propelled backwards by the force of the bullet. Normal guns aren’t capable of that, so that narrows the field to a bullet with an impact zone large enough to throw you spectacularly across the room, but not powerful enough to rip you in two in the process. Have a think.’

There was a long pause as the Doctor tried desperately to count. But his brain was so addled, he couldn’t.

‘Anything?’ the Master wondered.

The Doctor couldn’t answer.

‘104, cutesie,’ the Master supplied, bopping him on the nose with his finger. ‘That’s adorable. You can’t even think properly. Now, which one of those 104 guns do you think a Jack from the past would be most likely to use? Insert long pause here.’

The Doctor continued to grab at nothing inside his head. It felt like a sponge.

‘Oh dear,’ the Master said, and leant over to the machines, fiddling with something.

‘What’re you doing?’ the Doctor croaked, unable to look.

‘We need a little clarity, here,’ the Master said. ‘Just taking down your painkillers. It’ll hurt, but thinking will be easier.’

A few seconds later, a wash of excruciating pain overcame the Doctor. He couldn’t stop himself crying out, breathing heavily and contorting slightly from the agony of the amount of damage the humans had done to him.

‘Work through the pain, you’re a big boy now,’ the Master advised, and then continued as if the Doctor wasn’t contorting next to him. ‘So. 104 possible guns. Which one was past Jack using?’

Thinking was much, much easier. ‘K-Klasco ... ‘ he realised, stuttering the word out through the pain. ‘T-time Agent st-standard ... issue. That was … was J-Jack as a … as a ... T-time Agent.’

‘Much better, Borusa would be proud,’ the Master said approvingly. ‘So why would a Time Agent want to kill an innocent infant?’

The Doctor had utterly no idea. ‘I d-don’t ... know ...’

The Master adjusted the painkiller accordingly. The pain doubled. The Doctor nearly shrieked, but managed to contain it. ‘Try again with less drugs?’ the Master suggested.

‘I … don’t … know!’ the Doctor gasped.

‘You still can’t remember. That’s kind of tragic,’ the Master mused. ‘Let’s go back to school. Time isn’t linear. Everyone has their own line, moving around like a snake, and occasionally, the lines of each person overlap and circle around at different points in each other’s timelines as they meet and part. There’s a lot of room for error, and occasionally it happens, where someone’s existence can’t be continued without damage to time. The Universe tends to compensate around it - the egg isn’t fertilised, things like that, but occasionally it can cause paradoxes. Our people used to maintain the timelines to make sure the paradoxes were avoided, but then they died, and there was only you. You couldn’t maintain them on your own, could you? So the paradoxes have been happening and you haven’t been able to stop all of them without physical interference. So there have been some anomalies. These anomalies shouldn’t exist, and the Time Agency picked up on that.

‘Project Fateless. A Time Agency initiative to fix the anomalies, and a pretty heartless one at that. Because every millisecond of every day across the universe, children are born to parents. Some of these children, through no one’s fault, are born inside these paradoxes, and it makes them an anomaly. They’re called the Fateless. They have no proper existence. They just aren’t real people, and with every action they take and every word they speak, they rip apart time itself. The Time Agency dealt with these anomalies in the only way they knew how. Project Fateless. A project with orders to hunt down every single child born as an anomaly and kill them to fix the problems. So the answer to the question “why was Time Agent Jack there to kill your son”, is what?’

‘He’s … a F-fateless!?’ the Doctor breathed, horrified.

‘Exactly,’ the Master replied. ‘Glad you got there in the end. I’m happy for you.’

‘How!?’ the Doctor gasped. ‘Alex … w-wasn’t born in a … in a p-parad-dox. N-not a Fateless.’

‘You think?’ the Master wondered, and laughed. ‘I’m sorry. That’s funny.’

‘How?’

‘Your missing memory. The miscarriage. You entered a paradox the moment that baby was conceived, which if it played out, it would have resulted in the destruction of the universe. I thought I’d fixed your little problem by making Rose miscarry, but apparently not, as when Alex was conceived suddenly it’s back. You’ve been living at the centre of a paradox for a very long time. Things are beginning to fall apart. The world around your son is in constant flux. Time dilation, memory loss, distortion of reality, people dying, people coming back, they’re all symptoms of time trying desperately to compensate, but it can’t. Time’s got a wound it can’t heal for as long as Alex stays in it. It’s getting worse and worse and it will continue. And I think your son knows that. I think he’s known all of his life. He’s smart. Very, very, smart, and highly time sensitive. I have no idea how, but I think he’s known for his entire life that anything he says or does is going to rip the universe apart a little more, so he decided he wasn’t going to say or do anything. And actually, I think if you  _ really  _ think about it, you’re going to realise that you’ve known all along too.’

The Doctor was crying, now. He didn’t care. ‘I c-can’t,’ he sobbed. ‘I c-can’t do that …’ 

‘It’s why you created Anzen. You designed that planet for children like him. It’s their safe haven, and it’s where Alex belongs. He’s never going to be safe or happy with you. Those Time Agents on Project Fateless will keep coming to kill him, nature and the universe will keep trying to kill him, and he will keep saying nothing, because he can't.’

‘B-but I c-can’t. Not h-him. Anzen was n-never for h-him. He’s mine. He’s … he’s my s-son.’

‘I’m sorry,’ the Master said, and actually sounded sincere. ‘But you know what to do next. And you can’t spend any more time lying around here.’ He got up and pulled out his laser screwdriver, pointing it at the machine. With a blast of laser, the machine hissed and sparked, and powered down. ‘Time to get up and save a planet, Doctor,’ he said, slipping his laser screwdriver back into his pocket. He then raised his wrist, where a wrist strap sat. 

‘W-wait,’ the Doctor gasped. 

The Master paused. 

‘Y-you’re h-helping me. Why … Why are y-you help … helping me?’

The Master slowly smiled, not even looking up as he spoke his next sentence. ‘Be patient. You’ll find out. And it’s gonna hurt me a lot more than it hurts you.’

‘What does … what d-does that m-mean?’

The Master ignored him. ‘Oh, and with all this distortion of time and reality and space and people, I seriously wouldn’t let Sarah Jane get too attached to Harry. I always quite liked her.’

And with that, he tapped at his wrist strap, and disappeared in a wash of blue.

For several minutes the Doctor just laid there in the dark and in pain, staring at the ceiling. Then he got up.

It hurt. A lot. But he couldn't care less. He found his clothes, and centimetre by centimetre put them on. He got his belongings from a paper bag on the side and put them all in his pockets, before leaving.

The guard posted to his room looked surprised. ‘I was told you weren’t likely to get up,’ he told the Doctor.

‘I want to see my son,’ the Doctor told him, trying desperately not to reflect the amount of pain he was in. It seemed to work.

‘I’ll escort you,’ the guard said.

‘No worry,’ the Doctor replied, forcing a smile. ‘Be five minutes.’

The UNIT guard didn’t seem too happy with that. ‘I can’t let you …’

‘Just need some private time with my son,’ the Doctor clarified, maintaining his smile.

The guard sighed. ‘Okay. Off you go, sir.’

The Doctor nodded appreciatively and headed straight to Alex’s bed, which was obscured by curtains and yet another guard. It didn’t take him long to get past him, though he did feel both of the guards staring at him as he pulled aside the curtain and stepped through.

There he was. His little boy, fast asleep. And suddenly he felt very, very sick. Because now the Doctor was actually looking at him  _ properly _ , he realised absolutely everything that the Master had said was true. 

He could feel it. He could smell it. Alex didn't belong in reality. He never had.

Alex was a Fateless.

He dropped to sit on the bed. His body was so, so painful, but his hearts were even worse. Then he was crying again. But he knew that he'd known it all along. He'd just ignored it.

He cried for a good few minutes. He was only lucky that the sound of the machines attached to his boy were shielding the sound of it.

Finally he stopped, looking up at his son. ‘I'm sorry I never saw it,’ he whispered. ‘I’m going to go somewhere now, but I’m coming back, and I’ll make you happy. I  _ swear.  _ I’ve been an awful,  _ awful  _ dad but I’m going to make it up to you. I’m going to take you to Anzen, and everything’s going to be okay. You’ll be able to smile. You’ll be able to talk, and dance, and sing, and live, and thrive, and …’ He stopped, choking mid-sob. ‘... I love you. I’m so sorry.’

He kissed the boy on the forehead. Alex didn’t bat an eyelid.

The Doctor fished in his pocket for the bio-damper and party shimmer. He put the bio-damper ring on his finger, and activated the party shimmer. Immediately he felt that prickling sensation, and a mop of blond hair flopped down into his eyes. He pushed it back, and left out the other side of the curtain to dodge the guards. He grabbed a dressing gown from the nurse’s station and donned it, gritting his teeth at the pain in his body before he reached the door of the ward.

People were milling around, but no one knew who he was. He kept himself to himself, all the way out of the hospital and to his family’s room.

Dodging UNIT wasn’t a problem. Some misdirection and he was back. Rose and Leah were both asleep. Leah had her biology-shielding pendant around her neck, the crystal rock glistening in the low-light.

He deactivated the party shimmer, and leant down to his daughter. With a pang of gentle telepathy he woke her up. She saw him. Her eyes widened in delight and she took a breath, about to say something, but he quickly shushed her.

‘Tell Mummy when she wakes up that I've gone, okay?’ he whispered. 

‘Are you gonna save the world?’ she whispered back.

‘That's the plan,’ he replied. ‘Be good. I'll see you as soon as I can. And keep wearing that pendant. Don’t take it off for anyone or anything.’

‘Okay, Daddy.’

‘Good girl,’ he said, kissing her forehead. ‘Go back to sleep.’

She settled, and he tucked her in. He stood up, moving next to Rose. Very carefully, he placed his fingers on her temple, and drew up a memory she associated with being calm, so it would help dictate her mood when she woke up. He then reactivated the party shimmer. 

He kissed her, and left.


	11. AWOL: Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> UNIT is left in disarray as the Doctor disappears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good luck, everyone. I think I went just a teeny bit mad.

Long ago, when Rose and the Doctor’s relationship had just started, he’d been out to impress her. He had kept taking her to places that were individually impressive in their own ways – planets where flowers were sentient and bid them a good day, a place where every rock was made of glass, and even a place where the tribal locals had put on an amazing show for them, filled with music, dance and fire.

But there was one place he took her that she’d particularly loved. After saving a city from some invasion, the mayor had insisted they spend some time at his villa in the planet’s most well-known beauty spot by way of repayment. The Doctor had been reluctant, but eventually she’d convinced him to accept his reward, and they’d gone.

It had turned out to be the most idyllic place she’d ever visited. It was a lodge built at the bottom of a pink waterfall, with not a living soul for miles around. In the morning they’d gone on a long walk through the ravines, following the stream through a myriad of docile, cute, alien animals, and had a picnic from a hamper by the stream. In the afternoon they’d stripped and had a skinny dip in the warm, gentle, healing waters, splashing each other and playing around. For dinner, they’d ended up sitting next to the waterfall with their feet in the water, sharing a big bag of the best chips she’d ever tasted and telling tales in the sunset. When the two moons rose, the animals had begun their natural song for which the planet was famous, and for hours they’d danced in the moonlight to the music. Then they’d cuddled up together in the most comfortable bed she’d ever experienced, and dropped to sleep.

And for some reason, it was the first thing that came into Rose’s head when she woke up the next morning. As she stretched a little, trying not to hit anyone, she smiled and felt very at peace.

She was about to roll over to wake the Doctor, when she remembered he was in the hospital. That surprised her a little, because she’d half-expected him to make his way back to their room at some point during the night. He’d quipped before that he’d become so used to her he found it difficult to sleep without her and her bum gradually trying to push him out of the bed. But he’d been so sleepy from the drugs he’d probably been out all night.

She yawned and sat up, consequently waking up Leah beside her.

‘Mornin’,’ she said to her little girl, leaning forward to kiss her forehead. 

Leah furrowed her brow. ‘Stinky morning breath!’ she protested.

Rose laughed. ‘Sorry,’ she said, getting up. ‘Time to get up. Let’s get dressed and go see Daddy and Alex, yeah?’

Leah yawned and rubbed her eyes. ‘Oh, we can’t.’

‘What?’ Rose asked, only half paying attention as she rooted for something in the dresser.

‘He’s gone.’

‘Who?’

‘Daddy.’

Rose stopped what she was doing, and looked at Leah. ‘What d’you mean?’

‘He came in last night and said to tell you that he was going.’

‘Oh,’ Rose said, thinking about that. She wondered just why she wasn’t panicking, then she realised the Doctor had probably purposely messed with her head so she woke up thinking of that particular memory to help her mood. It was slightly annoying, but mostly sweet. ‘That was kinda stupid of him, wasn’t it? I mean, goin’ out when he just spent a night in hospital.’

Leah shrugged, finally getting out of bed to try and source something to wear.

_ ‘Mrs Tyler? Come in!’  _ a tinny voice suddenly said. It was the Brigadier.

Rose leisurely searched her clothes from the previous day and found the communicator in her pocket. ‘Hi!’ she said happily.

_ ‘I urgently need you here right now.’ _

‘Coming!’ Rose chimed.

* * *

Rose found herself smiling all the way to the UNIT HQ, holding Leah’s hand whilst constantly resisting the urge to skip. She met Louise, who looked very grave.

‘I’m so sorry, Rose,’ she said. ‘We have some terrible news.’

‘Oh, really?’ Rose asked, nonchalant.

Louise seemed surprised, but didn’t comment. ‘This way.’

She led Rose and Leah into the communication room, where people were frantically mashing their keyboards and yelling into headsets. Louise took them to a particular station where the Brigadier was standing, looking slightly ruffled.

‘I’m so sorry, Rose,’ Louise said. ‘But the Doctor’s gone. He’s not in Snowdon.’

‘Oh, I know,’ Rose said calmly. ‘Bloody idiot, isn’t he?’ she added, joking.

Louise and the Brigadier looked at her strangely. ‘Rose, the Doctor was in no fit state to go anywhere last night,’ Louise said, her eyes wide. ‘He was in so much pain that he was on the most potent drug we have available. He would only have been able to walk a short way, he would never have been able to get out of Snowdon. His room shows signs of sabotage – one of the machines was destroyed. The guards on the ward said he visited Alex’s bedside and then completely disappeared, along with a jeep. He would not have been able to get out by himself. We have to face the possibility that someone, somehow, has taken him.’

Rose laughed. Everyone in close vicinity stared at her, horrified. ‘Oh, no. He left by himself.’

Everyone was staring at her.

‘He can't have …’ Louise began, unsure.

‘Leah,’ Rose prompted.

‘He said to tell Mummy he was going,’ Leah informed them, peering with interest at one of the control desks, where a million buttons were flickering a spectrum of colours.

‘Where?’ the Brigadier asked. 

‘To save the world,’ Leah said casually. 

‘But he can't have,’ Louise said, confused.

‘He did!’ Leah insisted.

‘How in God’s name did he get out?’ the Brigadier asked, astounded. ‘We have ten layers of security before the exit!’

Rose smirked, realising she now knew the Doctor far too well. ‘So, he talked to a guard, saw Alex, then disappeared along with a jeep, yeah? Well he’s still got the party shimmer, hasn’t he? So he just used that. Probably got some outfit with another name badge on, used the shimmer until he looked a bit like the badge and used his Level One security clearance to get out the front door. Then he took a jeep and went.’

‘But he could barely move,’ Louise said.

‘He’s got tricks,’ Rose replied.

‘We have to find him and bring him back,’ Louise stated.

‘You won’t find him,’ Rose told them. ‘If he doesn’t wanna be found, you won’t find him. He’s got a bio damper and something that makes him look like anyone. He’s untraceable.’

‘But he’ll never survive,’ Louise muttered.

‘Where’s he headin’?’ Rose asked.

‘Devon,’ the Brigadier replied. ‘We briefed him on the location of the alien base. That's where he'll be going.’

Louise nodded. ‘We’re sending out some men to …’

‘No,’ Rose interrupted. ‘Don't do anythin’. He'll be fine.’

‘You're remarkably calm,’ Louise commented. 

'I just know him,’ she replied, waving a nonchalant hand. ‘Let him get on with it.’

* * *

It was mid-afternoon before the people at Torchwood Tate finally finished loading all of the weapons into the back of the transport they'd found – a black van filled with tools and U-bends with the company name  **PLUMBOB** printed on the side. Then they all gathered in the conference room again, Jack with a pinned-up blueprint of Snowdon, a whiteboard, and a pen that, remarkably, still worked. 

‘Will be heading out in about two hours,’ Jack stated. ‘So we should get there as it's getting dark. We found some devices in the Tardis that’ll shield us from any scanners at mid-range, so we’ll be able to get within one mile before we go on foot. Then once we’re as close as we can get, Seth will check the perimeter for the best entrance at the lowest level. We’ll go in unnoticed. Our fake Unit ID badges should get us some credibility, but don’t think it makes you immune, so move fast. Yan, you’ll be looking at the east portion of the base,’ he said, pointing on the map. ‘Gwen, west. I’ll take the south, and Seth, you take the north. As soon as any of us find the Doctor, Rose, Leah or Alex, signal on this.’ He held up one of the four radios, indicating the call button. ‘Don’t go on to retrieve them without all of us being there. After we’ve found them, we go out the same way we came in. If anyone’s cover gets blown, you’re on your own. Priority one is getting them out. Any questions?’

‘Yeah, what about me?’ Jackie Tyler suddenly asked.

Everyone turned to look at her, slightly stunned. ‘Um, Jackie, you can’t …’ Jack began.

‘Don’t you bloody tell me I can’t go,’ she snapped. ‘This is my family we’re talkin’ about!’

‘It’s going to be  _ dangerous,’  _ Jack emphasised.

‘I don’t care!’ Jackie insisted. ‘I’m comin’. I need to see Rose and the kids.’

There was a long pause. Jack found he didn’t really have much choice. ‘Okay,’ he eventually said. ‘Come with me. Any other questions?’

‘Yeah,’ said a voice from the doorway. ‘What am I doing?’

Everyone turned to see Zak standing there, leaning on the door, cut, bruised and bandaged. 

‘No,’ Jack said firmly. ‘No way.’

‘What?’ Zak asked.

Jack got up and pulled him out into the corridor, closing the door of the conference room behind him. ‘You should be resting.’

‘I’m okay,’ Zak insisted. ‘I’m just a bit sore.’

‘You’re not going  _ anywhere,’  _ Jack stated. 

‘Why not?’

‘You’re still hurt!’

‘I told you, I’m just a bit sore.’

Jack took him gently by the shoulders. ‘Zak, you’re still healing. You’re vulnerable. You can't come.’

'I wanna help,’ Zak insisted. 'Anyway, cos the Doctors regenerated, you can use me. If they see me they'll be shocked. You can do something with that.’

‘This is insane.’

‘Please, Jack.’

Jack stared at him and his pouty lip and his wide, doe-like eyes. It was  _ so  _ very hard to resist him. 'Okay. All right.’

Zak grinned, and hugged Jack, who kissed him. Then he took his hand and led him back into the Conference Room, where everyone was pretending not to have heard the entire conversation.

'Zak’s coming,’ he announced, leading Zak to sit in a vacant chair. 'Go with Seth.’

Zak and Seth both nodded. 

'Everyone else know what they're doing?’ he asked the crowd.

Everyone affirmed.

'We leave at six o’clock,’ Jack said. 'Be ready.’

* * *

After spending so long inside the Doctor's head and with him in the base for the past week, it felt very strange to know he wasn't around. Every other minute Rose kept wondering where he'd got to, until she remembered that he wasn't there. By the time evening came, the calmness from the memory had gone, but she’d accepted the situation. She’d accepted it when she’d bonded with him, after all. 

In the evening she left Alex, picked up Leah from her class, and took her to bed. There, she told Leah a story about the Daleks with a happy ending, tucked her in and said good night. 

As Leah fell asleep, Rose just laid there, staring at the ceiling. Even the thick walls couldn’t block out the sound of the torrential rain going on outside. She hoped he was okay, wherever he was at the moment.

She closed her eyes, relaxing, ready to sleep, when suddenly she heard a muted blast from a distance, violent enough to slightly shake the bed. Immediately alarms began wailing in the corridor outside.

‘What the …’ Rose said out loud, wide-eyed as she sat up.

‘Mummy, what was that?’ Leah asked sleepily.

‘I don’t know,’ Rose said, getting up and grabbing her dressing gown. ‘Stay here.’

She stepped out of the room into the corridor, with sirens wailing and red lights flashing. The usual guard had vanished from outside. There was another explosion, rapidly followed by a third.

Leah appeared next to her. ‘Mummy, what’s happening?’ she asked desperately.

‘We’ve gotta go, right now,’ Rose said quickly, pushing her back in the room. ‘Get some warm clothes on, and your coat!’

‘But …’

‘Just do it!’ 

* * *

The Torchwood team were just approaching the UNIT base when the first explosion rang out. They’d all yelped and dived for cover, taken by surprise.

‘What the hell …’ Jack began, and looked up. To his absolute horror, he could see distant spaceships. ‘The alien race is attacking Snowdon!’ 

A second explosion occurred, much,  _ much  _ closer. Everyone was thrown off of their feet, but didn’t have time to recover with the arrival of a third. It was getting even closer.

‘They’re targeting us!’ Seth realised.

‘Why!?’ Gwen yelped.

There was a brief moment of silence as Jack realised with utter horror the grave mistake he’d made, his eyes resting on Zak. ‘It’s you …’

‘Me?’ Zak echoed, startled.

‘Your biology! They’ve detected your biology, they think you’re the Doctor and they want you dead!’ Jack yelped, grabbing his hand. ‘Everyone take cover!’ he ordered, and began to run with Zak away from the group and the UNIT base.

* * *

Rose and Leah burst into the hospital, where everyone was going frantic, running around trying to get patients packed up and ready to evacuate.

‘Stay with me, keep holdin’ my hand, don’t let go!’ Rose ordered Leah, who nodded furiously. Rose pushed her way through the crowd,  _ desperate  _ to get to Alex.

_ ‘Make your way to the evacuation vans at emergency assembly point A! Women and children top priority!’  _ a disembodied voice boomed from overhead, but Rose wasn’t listening. She reached her son, who was sitting up in bed playing with his toes. Rose immediately began to disconnect him from all the machines.

Another high-pitched whine, and an explosion. Rose heard screams and debris, terrifyingly close.

‘Mummy!’ Leah wailed.

‘It’s okay!’ Rose insisted, finally picking up Alex. ‘We’re gonna get to the vans and get out of here!’

A sound like the sky was ripping apart came from overhead, before there was another  _ huge  _ explosion. The entire room shook, followed by several loud, heart-stopping cracks.

‘Get out! It’s gonna collapse!’ someone shouted, and everyone immediately panicked even more. People started shoving and pushing and trampling over each other in a desperate attempt to get out as the ceiling strained …

‘Mummy!’ Leah cried, and the next thing Rose knew, the little girl’s death grip had vanished and she was swept along with the crowd.

‘Leah!’ Rose screamed, horrified. ‘LEAH!’ She couldn’t see her. ‘LEAH!!!’

She was gone.

Now a mother on a mission, Rose kept a vice-like grip on her son as she shoved her way through the crowd. Feet and fists were flying in a cacophony of screaming, but her grit and determination carried her through the straining crowd and out into the corridor.

‘LEAH! ANSWER ME!!!’ Rose demanded, her heart hammering so hard it was threatening to burst out of her chest. She couldn’t hear anything over the crowd. ‘SHUT UP!’ Rose screamed at them all. ‘JUST SHUT UP!!!’

Of course, nobody did. 

Alex clung desperately onto her neck. Her arms were aching, but some sort of superhuman strength had taken her over. She held him and continued to push her way through the crowd, out of the base to the outside.

Another explosion, which threw her off of her feet. More screams, and now there was blood on the ground.

‘No, no, no, no!!!’ Rose yelled, tears now streaming down her face. ‘LEAH! PLEASE!!!’

Absolutely nothing.

‘Oh god, oh god,’ Rose wailed, trying desperately to think. Leah had her communicator …

She quickly took cover and pulled out the device. ‘Leah! Leah, it’s Mum, please answer me!’

It wasn’t going through. The device just beeped an error-like sound, as on the screen flashed,  **DEVICE NOT IN USE.**

‘Fuck you!!!’ Rose screamed irrationally at the device, throwing it to the ground in a fit of rage. It split apart into at least ten pieces, which flew across the concrete.

_ Well, that was smart,  _ the Doctor’s voice rang in her head from a previous adventure.

‘Fuck you!’ she screamed again. ‘You aren’t even  _ here!!!’ _

Alex was staring at her, absolutely terrified. She forced herself to calm down, taking deep breaths. It didn’t work. She was just crying even more as a small stream of someone’s blood meandered its way towards her feet.

‘Rose!’ a voice cried. It was Sarah Jane, running towards her. ‘There’s vans this way!’

‘Leah …’ Rose croaked, barely able to get the girl’s name out.

‘What?’ Sarah Jane asked. ‘We have to go!’

‘Leah!’ Rose squeaked, gasping for breath through her tears. ‘Leah!!!’

Sarah Jane finally seemed to get it. ‘Oh no … I’ll find her! You get out!’ she said, and ran back inside.

‘Sarah Jane!’ Rose called, but she was already gone. There was yet another explosion, further away, this time. This led Rose to look up and see hovering spaceships. It was the aliens. They’d found the base, somehow, and now they wanted every last one of them dead.

‘This way, Mrs Tyler!’ someone shouted. A UNIT guard appeared next to her, taking her arm. ‘We’ll evacuate you!’

‘My daughter!’ she cried out, finally managing some words through her utter anguish. ‘I’m not leavin’ without her!!!’

Another explosion, and it was close enough to send Rose flying off of her feet with quite a violent force. Alex dropped out of her arms and she hit the ground head first. Pain burst through her skull, and she blacked out.


	12. AWOL: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the UNIT base is destroyed, Leah has been split from her family. The invaders finally make themselves known.

Rose woke up, dazed and confused.

She found herself lying in the back of a jeep open at the back, travelling at high-speed down some nondescript road. Around her were lots of people, some injured, but mostly staring at her. Beside her was Alex, holding onto her arm.

‘What …?’ she groaned, sitting up, a hand on her head. There was blood. Everyone around her backed away slightly. She was wondering why, when she spotted Samuel, the man who’d tortured her husband, sitting there looking at her as though he was plotting her murder. Then she knew  _ exactly  _ why no one wanted to be near her or Alex.

She held Alex closer, holding his head to her shoulder. Suddenly she felt a bit scared, surrounded by her own race.

‘I don’t know why you’re here,’ Samuel stated loudly, bile in his voice. 

Rose ignored him. Don’t rise to him, she told herself.

‘Alien scum. We should throw you off.’

Rose said nothing, just holding Alex. As her mind continued to gel back together, she realised, with a quick scan, that Leah wasn’t there.

‘Have you seen a little girl?’ she asked the humans, ignoring Samuel. ‘She’s nearly five, she’s got long brown hair, brown eyes, and she’s wearing a puffy blue coat …’

No one answered her, just staring.

‘Please,’ Rose begged. ‘She’s my daughter. We got split up. Did anyone see her? Is she in another jeep?’

Still, no one answered.

‘For God’s sake, she’s nearly  _ five,’  _ Rose stressed, beginning to lose her temper. ‘Please, if you know anythin’ …’

‘Probably dead,’ Samuel drawled. 

Rose’s eyes narrowed. ‘Shut up.’

‘Probably got blown apart.’

‘Shut up!’

‘There was blood everywhere. Unless you don’t bleed red? What colour would your alien spawn bleed?’

‘SHUT UP!’ Rose yelled, dearly wanting to grab him and do something irreparable to his face, but if she did, she’d lose her grip on Alex, and in her mind, there was no telling what these people would do to a defenceless two-year-old alien child. Instead, she forced herself to calm, taking a few deep breaths. ‘I’m … I’m just a mum who’s lost her daughter. Please. Someone. Anyone.’

Utter silence, before Samuel’s sneering voice crept in, ‘think I saw a ripped puffy blue coat with a small severed arm in it.’

Rose completely lost it. Still holding Alex, she got up on the moving jeep and stormed straight over to Samuel, towering above him, shaking and sick with rage. It was taking every modicum of willpower not to kick him so hard his guts came out of his mouth …

‘You …’ Rose spat, her voice trembling, ‘you sick, heartless piece of human shit.’

Samuel just laughed. Something inside Rose’s brain audibly snapped, and everything descended into a blurry, adrenaline-filled blood-red haze.

This man, she decided, was a threat to her family. And he needed to die as slowly and as painfully as possible …

A sudden  _ vworping _ sound jolted Rose out of her anger, and she turned, startled to see a tall, thin alien, with glossy, bulbous black eyes and a pinhole mouth, clutching a gun and staring straight at her.

‘The Doctor …’ the alien rasped, and looked around the gathering.

‘Those two!’ Samuel yelled.

Rose’s heart stilled, utterly shocked.

‘Those two!’ Samuel repeated, pointing at Rose and Alex. ‘They’re to do with the Doctor!’

‘You bastard!’ Rose yelled angrily. ‘He’s savin’ your bloody planet!’

Samuel didn’t look in the least bit apologetic. ‘Take them!’ he told the alien. ‘Just take them and leave us alone!’

The invader advanced.

‘No! Get away!’ Rose cried, backing away with Alex in her arms. No one helped her. ‘Stop the jeep! Stop the jeep!’

It kept driving. Rose made it to the end of the jeep, the invader still pursuing her. Still, no one was helping her.

_ Protect Alex,  _ was all she could think.  _ Protect Alex! _

She turned to the end of the jeep, where the road was rolling beneath her. How fast were they going? She had utterly no idea …

As the invader advanced, she kissed Alex, and set him down on the edge of the jeep.

‘Run, just  _ run,’  _ she begged the boy, and carefully pushed him over the edge. The boy landed on his side but got to his feet immediately, and Rose could only watch, heartbroken, as the jeep rolled on and the two-year-old just stared at her sadly until the night swallowed him, and he was gone.

She turned, and looked up at the alien. She had to talk to it for as long as possible, to get as far away from Alex as they possibly could before she was killed.

‘I s’pose I’m gonna die, now,’ she said.

The alien said nothing, just staring at her with its gun raised.

‘You might wanna think about that, cos my other half is gonna tear you apart if you do.’

The alien still said nothing. All of the humans were just staring at her.

‘Other half,’ she choked, crying now. ‘He is. He really is. And I’m his. I love him.’

The alien tilted its head, its beady eyes piercing hers.

Rose couldn’t look at it. She’d stared death in the face a few times, but never quite this literally. She looked instead at all the humans, just sitting there, doing absolutely nothing to help her.

‘You remember what love is, yeah?’ she asked of them all. ‘Or you all got too busy hatin’ everythin’ that isn’t like you? Do you even  _ remember  _ what love is?’

Utter silence.

‘Don’t get me wrong, I found it as weird as all of you when I fell in love with an alien, but y’know what? He’s  _ not  _ an alien. I don’t see him like that. He’s just … the Doctor. And he the cleverest, most carin’ and amazin’ person I’ve ever known. I’m proud I fell in love with him, and I’ll never figure why he even gives a crap about me. He’s better than anyone I’ve ever known. He’s mine, he’s my purple dog, and I’m his, and I’ve been so, so happy.’

Everyone continued to stare at her.

‘My family are all seriously weird people, I know. The Doctor eats enough to bloat a rhino, Leah doesn’t know how to be a kid, and Alex is so, so clever that he’d slaughter a Mastermind champion, and Kiana wails like a foghorn whenever the Doctor touches her. Complete weirdoes, all of ‘em. But that doesn’t matter, cos they’re  _ my  _ weirdoes. I love ‘em all to bits. I’m so,  _ so  _ glad to wake up every mornin’ to them. To the Doctor, burnin’ some cereal because he doesn’t know how Earth food works. To Leah talkin’ in a language I’ll never understand. To Alex readin’ about the Chaos Theory like it’s an alphabet picture book. Nothin’ about us makes sense and I get it. I get why you can’t cope with that. Cos it’s not like you, yeah? Doesn’t fit all your lives. He told me you were all just scared and I should stop hatin’ you. I understand what he was sayin’ now. You  _ really  _ are, aren’t you? Just scared of things you don’t know about.

‘The Doctor never killed  _ any  _ of those people. And I think you gotta believe what I’m sayin’, now, cos these are gonna be my last words, yeah? Oh god,’ she croaked, finally looking back up at the alien. ‘I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die without sayin’ good bye to anyone that matters to me. I’m dyin’. Oh god.’

She sniffed, wiping at her eyes as she gazed at the alien. She took a steely breath. ‘Do it,’ she said.

It raised its gun. She closed her eyes, finding her entire life flashing before her. Mum telling her how dad had died. Granddad dying. Winning the gymnastics competition. Jimmy. The Doctor. The parallel world. Bonding. Being pregnant. The Doctor. Leah. Alex. The Doctor. The Doctor. _ The Doctor ... _

‘Rose!’ a voice yelled. Rose opened her eyes again, looking around in an utter panic. There was a van with  **PLUMBOB** written on the side driving beside the jeep, and someone was sticking their head out of the window, the wind blowing bleach-blonde hair. Wait a minute, that was …

‘Mum!?’ Rose yelped.

‘Hold on, sweetheart!’ her mum shouted, and her head ducked back in. Seconds later, the van swerved and slammed into the side of the jeep. Everyone inside yelped as the jeep lurched, and the alien fell over.

‘Jump off!’ Ianto yelled, and without hesitation, Rose launched herself off of the jeep. She landed a little awkwardly, rolling until she came to a rest on the tarmac, a little bruised, but intact. 

There was a loud screech of brakes, and soon an engine was heading towards her, she got up, just in time to be lit up by the headlights of the van. It pulled up beside her, and immediately her mum was out and hugging and kissing her.

‘Oh my god, oh my god!’ her mum cried, her vice-like grip crushing Rose.

‘Mum, mum,’ Rose sobbed, clinging onto her in return. ‘I love you so much. I need you to know that.’

‘I know, sweetheart,’ her mum replied, also crying. ‘I love you too.’

The back of the van rolled open to reveal Seth, Gwen and Ianto. ‘We’ve gotta go,’ Seth said urgently.

‘No, no, we’ve gotta find Alex and Leah!’ Rose said quickly. 

‘What!? Where are they!?’ her mum asked urgently. ‘And where’s the Doctor? What does he look like now?’

Rose ignored the last and jumped into the van, followed by her mum, who took the wheel. Rose pointed back down the road. ‘Alex is down here, Leah probably went in another jeep, or she’s at Snowdon …’

They searched for an hour along the road for any sign of the boy, even doubling-back several times and all getting out to search the area, calling out the two-year-old’s name. But he’d vanished.

‘What do we do?’ Ianto asked anxiously.

‘I don’t know,’ Rose sobbed.

* * *

Leah had tried to get outside after she’d been taken from her mother, but the crowd had been too much. So instead she’d found a cupboard and curled up inside it with her hands clamped over her ears and her eyes shut tightly with only her tears of terror allowed to escape, just repeatedly muttering how to regenerate over and over again. She stayed stone-still for an obscene amount of time, waiting only for the bombs to stop.

Finally, they did, but Leah still didn’t move for a good ten minutes. When she finally dared to open her cupboard door, the door hit some rubble, but the gap was large enough for her to squeeze through. She summoned all of her courage, and stepped out.

The room was verging on complete collapse, but Leah picked her way through, out of a massive hole in the wall to the outside. It was dark, cold, and silent, apart from the fires and the sound of concrete collapsing. Leah moved away, and five seconds later the place she’d been stood in fell down completely.

‘Mummy?’ she tried.

There was no reply from anyone.

‘Mummy,’ she tried again, sobbing.

Nothing.

She was about to cry some more, but she was rational enough to know that wouldn’t do any good. Instead, she had to think proactively. What would her daddy say? Be safe, probably. Find somewhere safe. She had to get somewhere safe, and she couldn’t stay here. But where was safe?

The TARDIS. The TARDIS was safe. She had to get to London, to Uncle Jack and Granny and the TARDIS. But which direction was London? She didn’t have the faintest idea.

‘Leah,’ a little voice suddenly said. Leah turned, startled to find Alex toddling towards her.

‘Alex!’ she exclaimed happily, meeting him in a hug. ‘Wait … Why aren't you with Mummy?’

'I went to find you,’ Alex replied.

‘Where'd Mummy go?’

Alex shrugged. ‘We were on van and aliens came and want us and Mummy throw me off but they took her I think.’

‘Oh.’

‘What we do, Leah?’

Leah thought about that. ‘I'm gonna get us to London,’ the four-year-old decided. ‘Back to Uncle Jack and the Tardis and stuff. Mmkay?’

‘Okay,’ the little boy said. ‘Leah, I'm scared.’

‘It's okay cos you're gonna be fine. I'm gonna look after you. Cos I'm your big sister and that's what big sisters do,’ Leah told him proudly.

‘Okay.’

‘We gonna, um, gonna get some food and stuff and blanket cos we gotta walk to London and that's like, forever away.’

‘Okay.’

‘Stay here,’ she told him, and darted off to retrieve some bags from a nearby destroyed ammunition room. She returned to Alex, giving one to him and keeping one for herself. ‘Okay, find food and blankets, mmkay?’

Alex nodded, and both of them got to work.

* * *

After so long walking, the Doctor’s body had given out. 

He’d driven to Bristol, but any closer and the invaders would probably detect mechanical movement and come to investigate. The last thing he needed right now was any sort of investigation, so he’d abandoned the jeep and been on foot ever since.

He’d had to avoid the major roads, so he was less likely to be detected or met by anyone. That meant a lot of trudging through muddy fields full of hills, and his still-healing body hadn’t been too appreciative of that. He was making very slow progress.

He’d been heading for the nearest house he could see, on a hill in the distance. But it had quickly become apparent as the heavens had opened that he wasn’t going to make it. So instead, he’d found a hedge with a hollow section in it, and among the insects and mud he’d sank into a healing coma, hoping he wouldn’t inadvertently drown in the process.

He’d only been woken up by his bond with Leah, screaming. Immediately he was panicking at the feeling of his little girl being so terrified, his hearts pumping ten to the dozen. He’d tried to get up, but having been jerked out of his healing coma so abruptly he was in partial paralysis. For an hour he laid there, staring up at the leaves, his mind absolutely ballistic. He desperately tried to circulate his blood, flexing his hands, and toes. The cold and the rain was making it much harder than usual.

Eventually, Leah had calmed down. That hadn’t made him feel much better though. He finally was able to move slightly, with the full intention of returning to Snowdon, before suddenly, there was a blue flash from nearby, and a figure popped his head in the hedge.

‘Hello, again,’ the Master said happily. ‘We seriously have to stop meeting like this.’

The Doctor grunted, trying to sit up.

‘No, don’t get up,’ the Master said, patting him on the shoulder. ‘I can save you a trip.’

‘What happened at Snowdon?’ the Doctor asked anxiously. ‘Why was Leah panicking?’

‘What makes you think I checked?’ the Master asked, smirking.

‘I know you did.’

‘Snowdon was attacked. Your clone drew some attention and lucky for these invaders, his biosignal led them straight to Snowdon. Naturally, they bombed everything and everyone they saw.’

The Doctor stared at him, wide-eyed. ‘Where are Rose, Leah, and Alex?’

‘Rose, has found all your Torchwood friends. Leah and Alex …’ The Master paused.

‘C’mon,’ the Doctor prompted.

‘They’re by themselves, attempting to get to London. They don’t know the way.’

The Doctor’s hearts skipped a beat. ‘Bring them to me,’ he told the Master.

‘What the magic word?’

‘Please,’ the Doctor said without hesitation.

The Master smirked. ‘I can’t, my device only takes one person. But it was nice hearing you say please.’

‘Master,’ the Doctor grated, his teeth gritted. ‘Bring them  _ here.’ _

‘Sorry, are you deaf? I said I can only take one, myself. I can’t transmat anyone anywhere.’

‘Then go to Rose, tell her where they are so Torchwood can pick them up …’

‘Me, talk to your friends? Are you serious? They’ll shoot me before I even open my mouth. Besides, they’re all over the place, I can’t keep track.’

The Doctor groaned, because he knew the Master was right. ‘Then just … look after Leah, and Alex. Make sure they get to London, safe.’

‘Magic word.’

‘Please.’

‘Okay,’ the Master said, grinning. ‘Will do. But relax. They’re smart. Oh, and also, the invaders have taken Jack and Zak. Ooo, that rhymed.’

‘What?’

‘They think Zak is you. Happens a lot, that,doesn’t it? Didn’t he nearly die because of that?’

The Doctor swallowed. ‘He …’

‘Yadda, yadda, yadda, ‘ the Master said vaguely, waving a hand. ‘Anyway, they’re with the aliens. So I’d think twice before you make any move. He looks almost exactly like you, don’t forget. Anyway. I need to find two lost children. Have fun.’

Before the Doctor could say anything else, the Master hit a button on his wrist strap, and vanished.

* * *

Leah and Alex had gathered supplies, and were just about to commence their journey when suddenly a voice came from out of nowhere.

‘Hello.’

Leah turned, startled, to see a man with dark hair standing there, smiling.

‘Who are you?’ Leah demanded to know, stepping in front of her little brother to protect him.

The man ignored her question. ‘Are you looking for London?’

Leah blinked, surprised. ‘Um, yeah.’

‘That way,’ he said, pointing south-east. ‘I would stick to the fields and country lanes. Much safer to avoid humans and aliens alike.’

Leah looked at Alex, who looked at her. ‘Umm ...’ she began, about to talk to the man, but when they both looked back, he’d gone.


	13. IOU, Love from the Tooth Fairy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the family split up, Leah’s tooth falls out, and the Doctor prepares to infiltrate.

For the next thirty-six hours, Leah and Alex made their way across Britain through deserted towns, cities and villages with only their backpacks and each other. They’d taken a rest stop when they’d reached the Wales and England border in some farmhouse, and again near some place called Wolverhampton in a three-bedroomed house on the corner of a street, which had two scooters in the garden. Leah decided to appropriate the scooters and they had scooted their way down the country lanes.

‘Where are we, Leah?’ Alex wondered as they neared another town.

‘Welcome to Bletchley,’ Leah read out loud from the sign as she and Alex neared it. ‘Home of the codebreakers.’

‘Wassa codebreaker, Leah?’ Alex asked.

‘Um, I think they buy and sell stuff, like stockbrokers, I guess,’ Leah replied, frowning slightly before looking at her little brother. ‘Are you okay?’

He nodded. ‘We nearby London, yet?’

‘Um, yeah,’ Leah decided. ‘There’s been loads of signs for London. It’s gotta be close.’

‘About fifty miles,’ a voice they’d come to recognise said. They looked up to see the man who’d been appearing every now and then on their journey, standing there smiling at them. ‘How are we doing?’

‘Okay, I guess,’ Leah replied defensively, making sure she was close to Alex. She still didn’t quite know what to make of the man.

‘Have you been eating and drinking and keeping warm?’

‘Uh, we ran out of food,’ Leah admitted.

The man pulled a face. ‘Well, we can’t have that,’ he said, looking around for a moment. ‘Tell you what. Make a stop here, and I’ll find you both something to eat. You’ve still got a day’s journey yet, you’re going to need it.’

‘Oh,’ Leah muttered.

‘Back in a minute,’ he said, and disappeared.

Leah and Alex looked at each other.

‘Who’s he, Leah?’ Alex asked.

‘I dunno. But stick with me, mmkay?’ she said. ‘And get ready to run.’

Alex nodded, and followed Leah as she went to find a house for them to sleep in.

* * *

After a whole day of searching for the lost children, Torchwood had driven back to the base under the Tate. There wasn’t much else they could do.

Rose had of course gone straight to the TARDIS, using the bioscanner to see if she could locate any of her family, but perhaps due to the pendants shielding them, it came up with nothing asides from the fact that they were alive. So as everyone else had recovered from the huge journey, Rose had sat in the console room, staring at the time rotor, trying not to cry.

She was beyond the realm of panic, having blasted her way through anger, crashed her way through despair, and now found herself comfortably slotted into numb. She was a mother who had absolutely no idea where her children were. Every second she imagined eventually finding their dead bodies in a ditch somewhere, because their mother hadn’t found them.

Forty minutes passed.

‘Sweetheart?’ her mum suddenly asked.

Rose looked up. ‘I thought … thought you were asleep.’

‘I couldn’t, not with you out here worryin’,’ her mum replied. Just her saying it was enough to send Rose into tears again. Her mum hugged her.

‘It’ll be okay, love,’ she said. ‘We’ll find ‘em.’

Rose sniffed. ‘I don’t know what to do,’ she whined.

‘Keep lookin’,’ her mum replied. 

‘Not that it’s fuckin’  _ workin’,’  _ Rose swore, flashing back to anger. ‘We looked all night …’

‘They’ll turn up,’ her mum insisted. ‘The Doctor’s always fine, and Leah and Alex are so smart. I know it’s all awful at the moment, sweetheart, but it’ll get better.’

‘You can’t know that.’

‘I couldn’t know it before sweetheart, but I can’t think like that again.’

Rose blinked. ‘Like what again?’

‘When you disappeared for a year,’ her mum replied, her voice breaking slightly.

Rose had nearly forgotten about that. Such a massive lesion on her mother’s life was almost tragically insignificant to her. It was bizarre. It made her feel a little guilty that she wasn’t more affected by it, so she quickly tried to pretend she hadn’t almost forgotten. ‘Oh, yeah. I know. God,’ she realised, ‘I did this to you. What I’m feelin’ now I did to you.’

Her mum sighed. ‘I went mad. I didn’t know if you were dead or alive or anythin’, I had nothin’ to cling onto. The thing I devoted nineteen years of my life to was just gone. And I was so scared cos … cos I didn’t believe in ya. I thought you were just this ‘elpless victim and that only bad things were happenin’ to ya, stuff you couldn’t control. But now I’ve got belief I never ‘ad before. Belief in Leah and Alex and the Doctor that they can cope with it. Belief I didn’t ‘ave in you.’

Rose sniffed. ‘... Yeah?’

‘Yeah. After all this … it’s bloody mental, but I’ve got enough faith in my grandchildren to know they’ll be okay. And the Doctor. Wherever ‘e is, he’s okay, and he’s probably lookin’ after Leah and Alex somehow too.’

‘Then why hasn’t he come back?’ Rose croaked. ‘He’s gotta know what happened. He’s gotta be worried. He’d try and find us … wouldn’t he?’

‘Sweetheart, he’s not come to you for the same reason you’re not goin’ to him. Cos he believes in you enough to think you’re gonna be okay. You think the same of him, dontcha?’

Rose swallowed. ‘Yeah.’

‘So it’s gonna be okay. You’ve just gotta decide what to do. We’ll do whatever you want to do next, but think about what I said, okay, sweetheart?’

Rose nodded, unconsciously resting a hand on her belly. Her mum noticed. She seemed to have an instinct for it. ‘Rose …. are you pregnant again?’

Rose quickly drew her hand away, as though guilty of something. ‘I, um ... yeah.’

‘Oh, sweetheart,’ she said, embracing her daughter once more. ‘Congratulations!’

There was another long phause as Rose just sat there, unresponsive for a moment.

‘What’s wrong, sweetheart? Don’t you want it?’ her mum asked.

‘It’s not that, it’s … god, everything’s so messed up.’

‘What d’you mean?’

‘They … I can’t believe they sold me out.’

‘Who?’

'The humans. We woulda been fine if they shut up, but they just pointed me out, practically signed my death permit. They didn’t care, they just hated my baby son and my little girl, just cos they're aliens. In Snowdon, the humans attacked the Doctor, I had to hold him while he was bleeding from what my species did to him. I was so, so scared for all of my family. The humans would kill every one of 'em if they could. I'm scared of my own species, mum. I keep catchin’ myself sayin’ things like, “those humans”, like I'm not one. The Doctor called me out on it, and he’s right, but I just … I keep hatin’ them more and more. Not that you’ve got any idea what I’m talkin’ about,’ Rose finished, sighing.

Her mum was frowning. ‘But … I thought the Doctor had done that regermination thingy and got taken somewhere? How could ya …?’

Rose sighed again. ‘He's …. he never died. He hasn't regenerated. It was all a big lie.’

Her mum stared at her. ‘What?’

‘He's got the same face and he's gone and I dunno how he is. He just left to go sort out the invasion. We’ve been in Snowdon all this time, together.’

‘You lied?’

‘Just a stupid thing and I don't even remember why we lied,’ Rose said, sobbing again. ‘Unit faked his death. He’s fine. All the threats and stuff were made up. They looked after us.’

Her mum clearly thought about that, and obviously decided it didn’t matter. ‘Well, everyone’s alive, sweetheart. They’re alive, and they may not be in the right places, but they’re all alive.’

‘That’s it?’

‘Ain’t that enough for now?'

Rose swallowed, and eventually nodded. ‘Okay.’

‘All you’ve gotta think sweetheart is what we’re gonna do next. I’ll help you with whatever you decide.’

Rose thought for a moment, trying to be rational. ‘Alex probably would've gone to find Leah if he couldn’t find me or the Doctor,’ she thought aloud. ‘And he’d probably find her. That means they’re together. They’d know to get somewhere safe. There aren’t a lot of places on Earth I think they’d call safe, so there’s not a lot of places they can go …’

She stopped, looking at the TARDIS.

‘Here,’ she realised. ‘They’d come here. If Leah was left at Snowdon and Alex found her, they’d be travellin' back to London to the Tardis. It’s the only safe place left. They’re comin’ back here.’

* * *

The strange man had given the two children some food to eat, and a very quick health-check. After he declared all was fine, he vanished once more, and Leah and Alex had settled down to sleep. Leah had played mother, telling Alex a bedtime story and tucking him in before climbing into bed herself, but not before her first tooth had fallen out.

After the blood had stopped, she stared at it in the moonlight through the window. One step on the way to a Singing Elsa doll, she thought, and placed it oh-so carefully under her pillow. She finally closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

* * *

The Doctor was on his final self-imposed rest stop, in a petrol station just forty metres from the start of the invader’s exclusion zone that surrounded their headquarters. He’d been watching them all day. Ships were coming and going, detectors and sentries and foot patrols were in full force. It was all fairly impenetrable, but he had a plan for that. He just needed to wait for his moment.

So while he waited, he raided the shop’s shelves for an awkward dinner, ending up with a menagerie of finger food. He’d even managed to tune in the television to receive on the invader’s frequency, but they weren’t saying anything particularly interesting. All he’d managed to discern was that they were still looking for him. Rose and the others seemed to be keeping themselves out of the way, at least, and the Master had been back and forth, looking after Leah and Alex. The Doctor had almost found himself beginning to trust his lifelong adversary. He tried to keep in mind all of the times the Master had betrayed him, just so he was prepared. But there was no escaping the fact that the lives of his children were now in the hands of someone who had, on numerous occasions, tried to kill him. But there wasn’t much else he could do. He just had to trust him.

His concerns at present were mainly for Jack and Zak, but the aliens had said nothing concerning them on their communications. He hoped that meant they were okay. If he could sneak in, he could free them and get them out before he confronted the invaders.

So he sat there in the petrol station on the floor, various packets of food scattered before him, listening to communications. It didn’t take long for the Master to appear.

‘Your children are in Bletchley,’ the Master announced, strolling into the station. ‘Ooo, peanuts,’ he enthused, dropping down to steal the bag.

‘They’re okay?’ the Doctor asked.

‘They’re absolutely fine,’ he said through a mouthful of peanuts.

‘You gave them a health-check like I asked?’

‘Yep. Little fatigued, but I think that’s a given. I also got them some food. Oh, one of Leah’s teeth have fallen out by the way. That’s normal, right?’

The Doctor nodded. ‘Yeah,’ he said, thinking about that for a moment. ‘... Have you got a pound on you?’

‘A what?’

‘Money.’

‘I’m sure I don’t know what that even means,’ the Master said dryly. ‘Why exactly do you want money?’

‘Tooth Fairy,’ the Doctor replied.

‘What in Rassilon’s name is that?’

‘It’s a human thing. When kid’s teeth come out the Tooth Fairy gives them money.’

‘... Real or not real?’

‘Not real.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Humans,’ the Master stated, sighing.

The Doctor got up and took a bit of blank receipt paper and a pen from the till. He wrote on it, and gave it to the Master.

‘Take the tooth from under the pillow, and put this in its place,’ he said.

The Master read the words on the bit of paper, and looked at the Doctor, utterly bewildered. ‘Is this a joke?’

‘No, it’s important,’ the Doctor insisted. ‘Please.’

The Master sighed, pocketing the paper. ‘The things I do for you,’ he moaned, and disappeared in a whoosh, taking the peanuts with him.

The Doctor sighed, going back into the shop and taking another bag of peanuts before returning to his sitting place. Two minutes later the Master reappeared.

‘Done,’ he said, and handed over Leah’s tooth. For a moment the Doctor just stared at it, cupped in his hands. It was still warm and a little gooey and bloody, straight from the mouth of his growing little girl. It made him strangely happy. ‘If your kids grow up with issues stemming from believing in a non-existent tooth-collecting fairy, don’t blame me,’ the Master said seriously.

The Doctor grinned, just gazing at the tooth. ‘Hardly non-existent, you just became the Tooth Fairy,’ he pointed out.

The Master groaned. ‘I hate it when you’re a smartarse.’

The Doctor persisted with his grin and placed the tooth into his pocket for safekeeping. ‘Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?’ he asked the Master suddenly.

‘Pardon?’

‘Answer the question. You said something was going to hurt you more than me. What does that mean?’

The Master didn’t answer. He lifted his wrist.

‘No, don’t …’ the Doctor said, but the Master was gone.

The Doctor sighed, and dropped to lie down in amongst the packets of food. No matter. In a few hours he’d be able to sort this planet out.

He closed his eyes.

* * *

Leah woke up four hours later, just as light was beginning to break. Immediately she became excited. She looked under her pillow to find the tooth had gone, but instead of money, there was a bit of paper.

**Dear Leah,**

**Yours was an amazing tooth, I just had to have it. I’m sorry I didn’t have any change today, so please consider this an IOU for one tooth. I’ll pay off my debt with interest when your next tooth comes out. Keep brushing!**

**Love the Tooth Fairy xxx**

Leah wasn’t quite sure whether to feel cheated or excited. In the end she decided excited, and put the slip of paper in her pocket. This meant she was getting even more money than she’d thought. Could she get a singalong Anna doll, too?

Smiling, she went back to sleep.

* * *

_ Theta. Help us. Please.  _

The Doctor jerked awake, finding himself still lying on the floor of the shop of the petrol station, empty packets strewn around him. He blinked, startled to find someone was standing over him, lit up with some kind of strange, ephemeral glow. He looked at the face, and recognised her.

It was his mother.

But before he had a chance to say anything, the Master arrived in a whoosh of teleport and the figure quickly disappeared.

‘Doctor,’ the Master said, oblivious. ‘You’ve got to run.’

‘What?’ the Doctor asked, confused, and still staring at the space his mother had been. ‘Did you just see …?’

‘What?’

The Doctor blinked, and refocused to the Master. ‘Nothing, sorry. What is it?’

‘Weren’t you listening to the communications? The invaders have used Zak’s biology to deep scan for all gallifreyans,’ the Master replied. ‘They’re coming for all of us.’

The Doctor jumped to his feet immediately, just as there came the sound of a ship heading straight towards them. 'Leah and Alex,’ he said quickly.

'On it,’ the Master said. 'Stay undercover.’

He disappeared. The Doctor grabbed his shimmer and his coat, flying out the door just in time for a ship to land twenty metres in front of him. 

_ ‘Surrender!’  _ a loud voice boomed. The Doctor ignored it, turning tail and running. He had no idea if the aliens had seen his face, but to be safe he hit the button on the shimmer and caught a reflection of a blond man in the window of an abandoned car as he bolted past. 

Shots were fired, and he heard the distinct sound of drones launching in pursuit. There was then a series of hydraulics firing accompanied by rhythmic crashes, and he risked a look over his shoulder to see fully armour-plated robots with weapons and laser-sights running up the road towards him.

He increased his speed. He had absolutely no idea how he was going to get away. They knew exactly where he was, and he couldn’t exactly outrun them.

One of the drones flew over his head, and shot something at him. It hit him in the shoulder, and suddenly he was yanked to a halt. He looked, and saw his shoulder had a clamp around it.

‘No, no, no,’ he said quickly, pulling out his sonic and buzzing at the clamp. It fell away, and he kept running. 

* * *

‘Leah. Leah!’

Leah’s eyes snapped open from a dream about being an ice princess to see the strange man kneeling over her, shaking her shoulder.

‘Tryna get some sleep!’ she moaned, but he ignored this, just grabbing her under the arms and standing her upright.

‘Leah, you need to do exactly as I say, and quickly,’ he said.

Leah harrumphed, her arms folded. She’d had just about enough of him and his mysterious ways. ‘I don’t have to do  _ anything  _ you say!’

‘You’re in severe danger,’ the man said. ‘We need to get out of here as quickly as we can.’

‘Danger from what?’ Leah wanted to know, not moving an inch.

The man sighed. ‘Even his children are difficult,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘Leah, it doesn’t matter. We just have to move.’

Leah decided to stand her ground. ‘I’m not moving!’

The man sighed again. ‘Leah, the invaders have detected where you are. They’re coming for you and your brother.’

Leah stared at him. For a moment, there was silence, before suddenly there was the loud sound of a spaceship overhead.

‘Get your brother,’ the man ordered, jumping up and running out of the door. Seconds later, there was the sound of laserfire. Leah yelped and pulled her little brother out of his makeshift bed, diving behind a sofa just in time for a giant, armour-plated robot to crash its way through the wall and into the room.

* * *

Rose had taken a short walk beyond the Torchwood base, just to clear her head a little. Her mum had wanted to go with her, but she’d wanted some time on her own. She had intended it to be a calm, serene walk where she could reason out her situation, but she was conscious of continually scouring the streets, looking for any sign of her children. But there had been nothing, of course.

It was just about to hit 6am, when suddenly she heard something mechanical from overhead. She looked up, and a sick feeling started to build in the pit of her belly, around about the area the new gallifreyan was growing. There was a spaceship, heading straight towards her.

She instinctively knew that she had to run.

She turned, about to get back to Torchwood, when a small drone came flying over her head. It stopped, turned to her, and fired off a shot all within the space of two seconds. She panicked as something hit her leg, thinking she’d been shot and just hadn’t felt the pain yet. But when she looked down, she saw that instead of blood, there was a metal clamp around her leg. She reached down, yanking, trying desperately to get it off, but it held fast.

‘No!’ she cried, trying again, but now the drone was moving, dragging her back and away from Torchwood.

_ ‘Surrender!’  _ a voice cried as the spaceship stopped, hovering above. Rose cried out in alarm and kept trying to free herself, but she couldn’t.

Another drone came towards her and fired another clamp. Then another. She suddenly was completely helpless and fixed into place, standing ten metres away from the spaceship with her heart hammering in her chest.

She could only watch, horrified, as the spaceship opened, and out came a handful of those pinhole-mouthed aliens. They saw her, conversed for a brief moment in murmurs, and then moved forward.


	14. Time Ghosts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor realises, due to his son's existence, space-time is falling apart as he’s confronted by his childhood nightmares. Leah’s luck runs out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 'zinox' the Doctor refers to is in Mother's Nature (4th), where an insect in his brain caused him to hallucinate his mother and father with typically disastrous consequences. Jelpax's Time War death is described in more gory detail in Mind Games. Also have said it before but will note again, this series started way, way, waaaaay before Day of the Doctor, so that doesn't apply here in the slightest. If you want some reason for that, then since this is an A/U from Journey's End, Day of the Doctor exists in a future the Doctor is now never going to live. Yay, time travel!

Leah tried desperately to stay calm and quiet as she and her little brother hid behind the sofa. She held onto Alex tightly, closing her eyes, beyond terrified as she listened to the sound of electronics and mechanics of the robot heart-stoppingly close to them.

She clamped a hand over her brother’s mouth and in turn held her own breath, determined not to make a sound until the robot had gone. But it quickly became apparent that the robot knew they were there, as seconds later it stomped close and pushed away the sofa to reveal them both sitting there, holding onto each other. 

Leah looked up at it - the metal was so polished she could see her own terrified expression staring back at her. It swivelled its head, and red electronic eyes looked straight at her and Alex.

She screamed. She couldn’t help it. half a second later there was a cry, and Leah looked to see the strange man had come back in, and was running straight to the robot. He raised a small, slim, gold and silver device not unlike her daddy’s sonic screwdriver, and blasted the robot with orange light from the end.

The robot momentarily froze, smoke hissing out of its head.

‘This way!’ the man called. Leah took her brother’s hand and pulled him up, dragging him with her towards the man. Suddenly she didn’t care who he was. In the absence of her daddy, he seemed the safest bet all round. She and Alex reached him, just in time for the robot to reactivate and spin around to them.

Leah had no idea how it happened, but suddenly the strange man went flying across the room, slamming into the wall. The robot juddered, hissed, and finally died completely, collapsing into a pile of steaming metal on the floor.

Then, silence.

Still holding her brother’s hand, Leah took him over to the man, who was in a pile of limbs on the floor. There was blood on his head. Leah shook his shoulder frantically. She could hear the spaceship dangerously close to them. ‘Um, wake up!’ she called to the man. ‘Wake up!’

He did, blinking rapidly as he came around. He saw them, and his eyes widened. ‘Run,’ he implored. ‘Both of you. Run and don’t stop.’

Leah got up, about to pull Alex to the door when in flooded five aliens, all armed, and pointing their weapons at them all.

‘Surrender, gallifreyan spawn,’ one of the invaders said.

‘No!’ Leah yelled, and pulled Alex the other way. The invaders didn’t shoot, a few just dived forward and grabbed her and Alex.

‘Do not attempt to escape,’ one of the invaders said.

‘Lemme go!’ Leah screamed, struggling for all she was worth.

‘Drop them, right now!’ the strange man suddenly thundered, now on his feet and pointing his device at the invaders. They all just raised their weapons at him instead.

Leah took the distraction. She dragged Alex out, but was stopped when she realised one of the invaders was still holding her arm. 

‘No!’ she cried, as she suddenly felt very strange. Her body was lightening, her head a bit fuzzy. The world around her was swirling blue, and she immediately felt a little sick.

She’d never actually used one before, but by deduction she knew she was being transmatted.

* * *

The Doctor had run for a solid twenty minutes across south-west England, trying to shake off the invaders. On the way he’d fallen into ditches four times, cut up his legs on various flora and nearly been trampled by an irate cow, but eventually, somehow, he reached some non-descript village, with every little bit of him screaming in pain. He could barely take a few steps beyond the welcome sign before his legs finally gave up and he fell onto the concrete road, directly into a puddle, gasping for air.

He desperately checked his family. They all felt very, very scared. There was no way of telling what had happened to them in the wake of the purge, but at least they were all still alive. And so was he, for that matter, which was always a plus.

He decided to get in cover to try and have a small healing coma. He attempted to stand up, but every single muscle in his body felt like utter dead weight and he could only lie there, panting, progressively becoming more and more cold.

 _‘Theta,’_ a voice suddenly said.

His hearts stilled. He knew that voice, but he couldn’t quite believe it. For the second time that day, he looked up and saw his mother standing there, lit up in a strange, ephemeral glow. She was wearing white gallifreyan robes, with her hair as neatly coiffured as it always had been, and she looked so, _so_ serene.

‘I’m hallucinating,’ he said out loud immediately. 

_‘No, Theta,’_ she said kindly, smiling. _‘You’re not hallucinating.’_

He tried again to get up. It didn’t work. ‘Going mad, then,’ he decided. ‘Stark raving bonkers.’

 _‘No, Theta,’_ she replied. 

‘Near-death experience,’ he said next. ‘I’m dying, aren’t I?’

_‘No. You’re a little exhausted, but you’re not dying.’_

‘Why …’ he stopped himself, and rephrased it. ‘ _What_ are you?’

_‘Don’t you recognise your own mother?’_

‘My mother is dead,’ he told her. 

_‘In a way, I suppose I am,’_ she replied, persisting with her smile. _‘But I need you, Theta. I need help.’_

‘Help?’ the Doctor echoed. 

_‘I need you to save me. We need you to save us.’_

Suddenly new people were arriving. Alongside his mother, he recognised some of the faces. His old friend Jelpax; his father; a handful of people he’d known at the Academy. All of them were faces from a distant, dark past, now slowly surrounding him on all sides.

‘Father, what …?’ he managed to get out, utterly stunned.

They said nothing, just staring at him. His father finally stepped forward, and offered him a hand up. Slightly hesitantly, he reached out, and took it. He connected hit solid, warm flesh, and in one swift movement his father pulled him to stand upright.

 _‘Careful, don’t hurt yourself,’_ his mother said anxiously.

As soon as he was up, he backed away from them, alarmed. ‘What’s going on!?’ he managed.

 _‘Calm down, boy,’_ his father said. 

‘Calm? How can I possibly be calm?’ the Doctor said, gaping. ‘I’m just seeing solid visions of dead people, that’s completely normal …!’

 _‘We’re not visions, Theta,’_ his mother told him. _‘We are real.’_

‘Oh, and I’m supposed to just believe that, am I? You’re not her. You’re not real, none of you. I’ve got another zinox in my head, I’m ill, I’m …’

 _‘I told you he’d take forever to catch on,’_ Jelpax said aside to his Academy peers. They all laughed.

 _‘Don’t be so impatient, Jelpax,’_ his mother chastised. _‘He’s just confused.’_

 _‘Sorry, ma’am,’_ Jelpax said only half-sincerely, grinning.

‘Tell me what’s going on!’ the Doctor demanded, his eyes widening at that.

 _‘We’re here to ask for your help,’_ his mother said. _‘We are eternally condemned to exist between time and nothing, but you can bring us back. Pull us out of the nothing and back to reality.’_

The Doctor suddenly felt very, very sick as he finally realised what was going on. ‘You’re lergri,’ he muttered.

_‘Yes.’_

The Doctor stilled, shocked. The lergri, or so the Time Lords had called them for the want of a better term. The lergri, literally translated were the “after people”, although they weren’t people, they were more awkward manifestations of people who had died outside of time – usually between the vortex and reality. People whose deaths had been so awkward for cause and effect, that the continuum hadn’t been able to explain their death in linear time. So instead, they had become faint echoes of living people – people eternally suspended between death and life.

Colloquially, they were known as time ghosts. Only occasionally would a time ghost ever appear to a living person, but it was usually mid-flight in a TARDIS. Glimpses of the lergri were so rare that no one had ever had the chance to research them properly. They were the makings of childhood nightmares – and the Doctor had had a few of those. A bedtime story alongside the Toclafane and Grandfather Paradox, designed to terrify gallifreyan children into not messing with time, lest they turn into a time ghost.

From the little research that had been done, the Doctor knew that time ghosts had no sentience and seemed to exist independently of one another. If the lergri had gained a sentience, then something was very, _very_ wrong with time.

Alex flashed briefly across his mind. 

‘I’m sorry, I can’t help you,’ the Doctor croaked. ‘I don’t know how to.’

 _‘We know how you can,’_ Jelpax replied. _‘All we need is a gate back to the real world.’_

‘What gate?’

 _‘You’re the gate,’_ Jelpax answered. _‘We can get through you back to the real world. You just have to open your mind to let us through.’_

‘Then what?’

_‘After we’re through, we’ll take living bodies. The humans.’_

The Doctor swallowed. ‘No, I can’t do that.’

 _‘Why not?’_ Jelpax asked. _‘Don’t you want me back, Doctor?’_

‘It’s genocide,’ the Doctor stated. ‘You’d be taking over the human race.’

 _‘No, it is not, my boy,’_ his father replied. _‘Only a few of us strong enough for the transition. We number only thirty thousand. Thirty thousand of seven billion seems a small sacrifice.’_

‘That’s still murder.’

 _‘What right does he have to criticise us about murder?’_ one of the crowd suddenly said.

‘What?’

 _‘Don’t, Kopan,’_ his mother told the man.

 _‘No,’_ the lergri called Kopan said, clearly annoyed. _‘He’s the one that murdered us, and we’re lergri because of him!’_

‘What?’ 

_‘You used the Moment and killed us, all of us, when time was so fractured that it meant most of us died outside of time and space! It’s all your fault, Doctor! You’re a mass murderer! You made us, all of us!’_

‘I-I didn’t …’

 _‘Leave him alone,’_ his mother said quickly. _‘He did what he thought was right.’_

 _‘Oh, stop denying it, Penelope,’_ his father said to his mother, his eyes narrowed. _‘Theta is a mass murderer, you cannot explain it away. At least now he has a chance to redeem himself …’_ He paused, looking at the Doctor. _‘... If he chooses to do it.’_

 _‘Does he even care? Does he even regret it?’_ one of the Academy people asked.

The Doctor tried desperately not to take them seriously. ‘I’m not having this discussion with a load of apparitions.’

 _‘You actions caused us,’_ his father said. _‘You cannot deny it.’_

‘Who says I believe you’re lergri, anyway? There’s a thousand reasons this could be happening.’

 _‘What must we do, Theta?’_ his mother asked. _‘I understand you’re confused, but it is really us. Please.’_

She reached out to him, resting a hand on his cheek. The Doctor wanted to move away, but he couldn’t. It felt so real. It smelt like her, it looked like her, it felt like her. Her eyes were so kind and loving and exactly as he remembered. He found himself wanting desperately to hug her, scream a little, destroy something, and cry, but he couldn’t quite decide what order to do it in. So he just stood there instead, rooted to the spot.

 _‘You can make it right,’_ his mother said. _‘You can bring us back.’_

She held him. He just stood there, in the arms of his mother, shaking with grief, pain and rage, all at once. His hearts yearned to do what they wanted, but his brain was insistent in telling him what a bad idea it was.

She drew back, and gazed into his eyes. He hated his brain, sometimes.

‘I’m sorry, I truly am,’ the Doctor croaked. ‘But I just can’t.’

 _‘If you’re worried, we won’t take the body of anyone close to you. Only the people you tell us to,’_ Jelpax said.

‘I can’t do that,’ the Doctor insisted.

 _‘Why exactly are you protecting the people that hate you?’_ Jelpax wondered.

‘They don’t know what they’re doing.’

_‘They tortured you.’_

His mother stiffened slightly at Jelpax’s words. _‘Please, do not talk about that,’_ she said, her voice wavering.

 _‘No, he needs a reality check,’_ Jelpax said. _‘These people exiled him, tortured him, targeted his children and sold out his wife and son. Protecting them is absolutely nuts.’_

‘Sold out?’ the Doctor repeated, confused.

His mother looked sad. _‘We have been watching you all for some time as we waited to get through,’_ she confessed. _‘When your wife was escaping from Snowdon the truck she was on was overrun by the invaders. She could have reached a safe place if the humans had not pointed her out to the invaders. But they did.’_

 _‘They were trying to save themselves,’_ Jelpax continued. _‘They would rather she and your two-year-old son died than offer them any sort of help. They basically signed your wife and child’s death permits and they couldn’t care less.’_

A small fleck of anger stirred within the Doctor. ‘They don’t know,’ he found himself saying out loud, but with less and less conviction, now. ‘They’re just … they’re scared. People do stupid things they regret when they’re scared.’

 _‘Do you really think they’re going to regret it in any way?’_ Jelpax asked.

 _‘These people loathe you, boy,’_ his father continued. _‘Their children play games about you dying. Their actions can no longer be explained away. They have strayed beyond that point. Now, they are just becoming evil. Is it right to save evil?’_

 _‘It’s testament to you that you’re actually bothering to save this planet,’_ Jelpax said, nodding at the Doctor’s father. _‘We get it, you’re on an altruistic trip of some kind. You’re travelling around time and space saving people to try and make up for what you did to us. You’re desperately trying to save yourself in the process, but you’ve got to realise soon that saving humans is not going to save you. If you save us, you’ll be saving yourself, and all people that matter to you.’_

‘I just … I can’t,’ the Doctor stammered out. ‘It’s murder. I’m done with murder. I can’t take that again. I’m sorry, but you’re all dead. These humans are alive. It’s their time, and I can’t take that away from them.’

 _‘You took our time away from us!’_ one of the crowd shouted. 

The Doctor stopped feeling guilty, and instead became angry. ‘I've had _such_ a long time to think about what I did. I've picked apart that bit of my life nanosecond by nanosecond and analysed absolutely everything, trying to think if I could have done anything else, and I can never come up with anything. I can honestly say that I can't think of any other way that could have been resolved. If I was in the same situation again, I'd have to do the exact same thing over. Yes, I regret it. But my regret is that I didn't die with you. I was ready. I hit that button expecting to die, but I didn’t. I’m still here, and I have to live with that. I’m sorry for surviving, but that doesn’t give you the right to ask me to murder thirty thousand people for the sake of my own conscience!’

 _‘Please, let us stay calm,’_ his mother said. _‘Theta. Haven’t you longed so much for me?’_

‘Of course I have, but I’m not killing anyone to bring you back,’ he snapped. ‘And if you really _were_ my mother, you wouldn’t be asking me to.’

 _‘I hurt, so much, Theta,’_ his mother said. _‘I am caught in an eternal unreality. Every moment I am suffering. I cannot live, and I cannot die, and I can no longer tolerate it. You are our only saviour.’_

‘You’re _not_ my mother,’ the Doctor spat, although he wasn’t really sure of that. ‘None of you are the people I knew.’

 _‘What must I do, Theta?’_ his mother asked, tearful. _‘You are my son. I love you. I care for you. I want to be with you and your family, like it was before. Were you not happy?’_

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed. ‘Well, that just proves it,’ he said. ‘My real mother would never know about that. She’d died long before the zinox made me hallucinate.’

 _‘I know because I have been watching you, Theta,’_ his mother said. _‘It is all I can do to watch you and your family. And now Alex is disrupting time, I am finally able to speak with you. Please, Theta. I beg you. Before you take Alex to Anzen and the fracture in time is resolved, you will allow us to walk among the living again.’_

 _‘Open your mind, allow us through, boy,’_ his father said. _‘Or you will be condemning us to hell for eternity.’_

 _‘How can you do that?’_ Jelpax asked. _‘How can you kill us and then deny us this chance?’_

‘Shut up,’ the Doctor snapped, his hand on his head. ‘Shut up, shut up!’

_‘All those people that died became lergri, yet only thirty thousand of us have a chance. You can save us. And you know what, Thete? We’re actually being polite about this. We can’t appeal to the Master, we can’t overtake you without you opening your mind, but we could use your children. They are completely unprotected, and it would probably kill them.’’_

The Doctor’s hearts rate increased exponentially. ‘Is that a threat!?’

 _‘It’s an alternative,’_ Jelpax said. _‘Don’t underestimate just how much we want to live.’_

‘Well, you seem pretty content to murder thirty thousand innocent people, so what’s the problem with starting with two children?’ the Doctor challenged, muddy arms in the air in invitation. ‘C’mon Mummy and Daddy, if it really is you. Kill your grandchildren.’

 _‘We would not kill them, Theta,’_ his mother said, her voice wavering. 

_‘You might not, but I would,’_ one of the crowd suddenly said. A few murmured in agreement.

‘Funny how you’re trying to take the moral high ground, yet you’re keen to kill defenceless children,’ the Doctor spat.

 _‘We are not going to touch them,’_ his mother said, glaring at the crowd. _‘We would protect them.’_

 _‘If you allow us through, boy, we can be of great benefit to you,’_ his father said. _‘Allow us to protect your family.’_

 _‘Let us help you,’_ his mother begged. _‘You are in a very dangerous situation. You need help more than ever, even if you do not realise it right now.’_

 _‘We exist between the timelines; we have seen the future,’_ his father explained. _‘You cannot survive it without help.’_

 _‘We want to help you, Doctor,’_ Jelpax added. _‘Help us, and we’ll help you.’_

 _‘Time’s temporarily fixing, we’ve only got twenty seconds!’_ one of the crowd suddenly cried, and almost immediately they began to fade away. 

_‘We'll wait for you, Doctor, because you’ll change your mind,’_ Jelpax said quickly, and disappeared.

 _‘It is up to you now, boy,’_ his father said, and also disappeared. The rest of them left, except for his mother, who remained standing there, gazing at him.

 _‘I understand, I truly do,’_ she said. _‘No matter what they say, you do not have to do anything you do not want.’_

The Doctor stared at her. ‘I just … my mother is dead. I accepted that. I can’t accept you. Not again. I can’t do that to myself. I don’t think … I don’t think I can survive it again.’

The smile came back. The smile that seemed to make him feel as though everything was all right. _‘It is up to you. All I ask is that you consider just how much suffering there is in being a lergri. I am not happy, Theta. Not until I am with you again.’_

‘Please don’t,’ the Doctor croaked.

 _‘I am sorry. But we are desperate, and you are our only hope. It is a terrible position to put you in. But …’_ She paused, as if saying her next sentence was somehow dangerous. _‘... Whatever you decide, please beware of the one in white.’_

She stepped forward, straight through him. It felt as though he’d just been hit by a train as he gasped and shuddered, all the blood rushing away from his head as he felt nothing but the very core of his mother for a brief moment. He was enveloped in her, through voices of past memories crying inside his head; the smell of her; the long since severed connection to her inside him having a small tremor from utter confusion. In that brief moment, it was her. It was his mother.

She disappeared, and he fainted clean away.


	15. The Doctor’s Number One Fan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is taken onboard the invaders’ ship. The Doctor meets an old friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor's number one fan you'll find in The Debt and Mother's Nature, trying to get constant selfies to post in the Doctor Spacenet Forums. The Doctor talks about events that happened in Time, where's Toby's efforts to build the perfect body resulted in tens of dead humans and the Doctor blamed for everything.

Rose could do nothing but numbly obey as the aliens had taken her on-board their ship, and flown her back to, obviously, their Headquarters. She’d been restrained with heavy metal chains on her hands and feet and deep-scanned. She couldn’t tell whether they’d found the gallifreyan embryo, but she knew she had to assume the absolute worst. Clearly they were after the Doctor, and the aliens had probably come after the gallifreyan biology growing inside her, and there was no telling what they could do with an embryo.

Whatever the results, they said nothing to her about it. They ignored her protests and marched her to a room, forcing her inside. The door hissed shut, and audibly locked.

‘Mummy!’ a little girl said, and Rose looked up, astonished, to see Leah sitting there.

‘Oh my god!’ she gasped, and moved forwards, dropping to the little girl and engulfing her in a hug. ‘You’re okay!’

‘Mummy, can’t breathe,’ Leah gasped after a moment.

‘Sorry,’ Rose said, and started to laugh - far too happy to feel fazed by their current situation. She kissed her daughter’s forehead and kept holding her close. She'd never been so happy to be captured by angry aliens. ‘Are you okay? Have they done anythin’ to you?’

‘They made my hands and feet hurt,’ Leah told her, holding up her arms and sticking out her feet to show her mum the restraints that they both had on.

Rose checked, but there was only a bit of red from the rubbing. ‘You’re gonna be fine. Just a bit of red. Where’s Alex?’

Leah shrugged. ‘I dunno,’ she replied. ‘I got taken and he got left.’

Rose sat up a little, alarmed. ‘On his own?’

‘No, there was a man.’

‘What man?’

‘I dunno. But he was nice. He gave us food and kept asking if we were okay.’

Rose thought about that. She had no idea how to feel about it. ‘It wasn’t someone from Unit, was it?’

‘I dunno.’

She felt herself beginning to panic. ‘What did he look like?’

‘He had brown hair that was all combed and greasy-looking.’

Rose was none the wiser. ‘And he looked after you?’

‘Yeah. He kept appearing and disappearing. He had this teleport wrist thing.’

‘Oh God,’ Rose moaned, trying to qualm her panic. There was absolutely nothing she could do about it. 

‘Mummy, my tooth came out,’ Leah moaned in a sudden change of subject, opening her mouth to show her the gap. ‘The Tooth Fairy took it but didn’t gimme any money.’

‘What?’ Rose asked, wrong-footed.

‘She left a note,’ Leah told her, and pulled the slip of paper out of her pocket. Rose took it and read it. It was clearly the Doctor’s handwriting. Almost immediately she calmed, and smiled. Her mum had been right. The Doctor had been watching over them. That meant the man, if not the Doctor himself, was at least Doctor-approved. She quickly decided, whoever the man was, Alex would be okay with him. After all, worrying wasn’t going to do anything.

‘Hey, she said she’d pay you with interest on your next tooth,’ Rose pointed out. 

‘How much?’ Leah wanted to know.

‘I dunno,’ Rose replied. 'What do you want?’

‘Singalong Anna doll,’ Leah said immediately.

Rose smiled. ‘I bet that’s fine with her.’

Leah beamed a gorgeous little smile at that, minus one tooth. ‘When can we go home?’

‘When Daddy gets here.’

‘When’s that?’

‘Soon.’

‘When?’ Leah wanted to know.

‘I dunno, Leah, but he’s coming.’

‘That’s not an answer,’ Leah moaned.

‘Leah, you know your daddy. He's totally unpredictable, and always late. He'll turn up with about two seconds to spare, yeah?’

'Be no fun otherwise,’ Leah said as if in a mantra, sounding just like her father. Rose grinned and instinctively kissed her again, just as the door rolled back and three invaders stepped inside the room.

There was absolutely no pause. ‘Where is the Doctor?’ one of the asked.

Rose looked at them. They somehow seemed even more threatening in the bright light of the ship. She tried not to let that show. ‘I don’t know,’ she said honestly.

‘We demand you tell us!’

‘I don’t know, all right?’ Rose said again.

‘Tell us, or we will kill your spawn,’ the invader told her in a very business-like manner.

‘Yeah? That’s called murder,’ Rose told it, wrapping her arms firmly around her daughter, shielding her.

With absolutely no hesitation the invader drew out his gun and pointed it at the little girl. Rose made sure Leah couldn’t see. ‘I said I don’t know!’ Rose told it, now angry. ‘I’m warnin’ you, you lay a  _ finger  _ on our child and the Doctor’s gonna tear you apart! Actually, never mind him, I’ll do it!’

The invaders conversed quietly for a moment. Then, the one who had spoken previously turned to her.

‘Come this way, human.’

‘For what?’ Rose asked defensively, feeling a bit more confident now.

The invaders ignored the question. Two of them grabbed her and hauled her upright, away from Leah.

‘Mummy!’ Leah wailed.

‘It’s okay, I’ll be right back!’ Rose told the little girl desperately as she was dragged out of the door.

* * *

The Doctor woke up slowly, in strange waves of consciousness, as though his mind was a beach and awareness was the tide. With every wave came a little more clarity as his eyesight progressively became more and more clear, and he could finally start to make out a face, staring down at him. It was a blonde woman, who had her fingers on his neck, in the right place to check his pulse.

‘He’s alive,’ the woman said. ‘He’s coming round.’

‘Jesus, I thought he was dead,’ another woman’s voice said, and he felt himself being dragged along concrete. He couldn’t move, asides from feeling his entire body shivering.

‘Hey, can you hear me?’ one of the women asked. He’d lost track which one. He didn’t even attempt to reply, just passing out again.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, he found he was in some sort of cave, in a makeshift bed, covered in old duvets and blankets. Around him were several people, milling around carrying various things, chatting loudly, and someone was dabbing at his face with a towel. It was the same blonde-haired woman as before.

‘Oh, hey, how are you feeling?’ she asked, pausing in cleaning him up to look at him. ‘Don’t pass out on me again.’

‘Terrible,’ the Doctor muttered.

She frowned, clearly not having heard him. She turned to everyone else. ‘Shut up a second!’ she ordered. 

Obediently, the crowd dulled. Trouble was, everyone was now looking at him. He tried to ignore it.

‘Where’m I?’ he asked.

‘Chudleigh Caves,’ she told him. 

He looked briefly around the caves again. He could only see human faces. It didn’t take long, even for his gooey head, to realise that he was in massive danger. If they found out he was an alien, he was as good as dead.

He tried to get up. She quickly stopped him.

‘Don’t do that,’ she said. 

‘I’ve gotta go,’ he murmured.

‘You’re not going anywhere,’ the woman told him. ‘Just relax and let us take care of you.’

The Doctor immediately knew that he didn’t have much of a choice. He wasn’t exactly going anywhere.

‘It’s okay, you’re safe. I’m Elsa,’ the woman continued, smiling. 

The Doctor frowned. ‘Like from Frozen?’ he asked, dazed.

Elsa sighed. ‘I swear, if you sing the song I’m gonna throw you outta here.’

The Doctor smiled a little, Leah flashing across his mind. ‘My daughter, Leah … she loves Frozen.’

‘How old is she?’

‘Four.’

‘Is that human years or alien years?’

‘Both, we age at …’ the Doctor cut himself off mid-reply, his eyes widening at what he’d just started to say. ‘No, I mean …’

To his absolute astonishment, she was laughing. ‘Relax, we know who you are, Doctor.’

He frowned. ‘You … You do?’

‘Yeah. We recognised you.’

The Doctor started to panic a little. ‘I’m not …’

‘What?’

She looked confused, and in turn that made the Doctor confused. ‘Don’t you want to … you know, kill me?’

She looked even more confused, and then finally seemed to catch onto what he was implying. ‘Oh! No, of course not. Don’t be so silly.’

Before he had a chance to question that, they were interrupted by a new voice. ‘Heeeey, bessie!’

The Doctor blinked, and caught sight of his number one fan, Yash, standing by the entrance, grinning and waving enthusiastically.

‘Yash,’ the Doctor said, startled. 

‘We’ve gotta stop meeting like this!’ Yash joked, moving to him. ‘How you feeling? Apparently you were in a puddle or something.’

‘Getting feeling back,’ the Doctor assured him. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Great!’ Yash enthused, giving a double thumbs-up. ‘You’ll be  _ so  _ impressed with me, Doctor!’

‘What?’

‘I made this place! I got us all together!’ he said happily, and then launched into his obligatory typically over-complicated explanation, ‘cos when it all kicked off, I thought, ah crap! I’m gonna get found out! I called you, but you didn’t come, so I decided I was gonna do something about it just like you would! Cos y’see, me and some non-humans had this club and we played this thing called Bingo which I  _ love  _ every Thursday night at this place called Mecca, so I went to see ‘em all and they totally agree that we needed to go and I was like, “but where” and they didn’t know, but then Lope said we could get some human friends, so we could find out somewhere to go. Then we all went to get human friends who didn’t wanna kill us, like I got my neighbours, Albert and Audrey, who are these cool older humans who like crosswords and baking and they said they were scared too so Audrey baked some flapjacks and we all went together! I said loads of times, “guys, we gotta stick together!” and they said, “yeah, you’re so right, Yash!” and I was embarrassed but I didn’t wanna be too embarrassed, so I just got on with getting everyone out! We all decided we should go to the countryside, and Albert said he used to be this thing called a “speleologist” and caves were good for hiding so we all voted and decided yeah, and as soon as we got here all the bombs dropped, and I was sad cos this is my planet now but we all hugged each other and made a campfire and ate flapjacks and we’ve been here ever since!’’

The Doctor stared at him. He’d almost missed being completely overwhelmed with just how fast and breathlessly Yash spoke, especially with how his head was currently feeling. ‘Wait … so you got some non-humans, some humans, and hid in a cave?’

‘Um, yeah. Basically. But it was way more complicated than that!’ Yash insisted.

‘Sounds it,’ the Doctor murmured.

‘Are you impressed?’ Yash asked, sounding a little hopeful.

‘Completely,’ the Doctor confirmed.

Yash beamed. ‘Thanks!’ he enthused. ‘I tried to do it all like you would and it all worked out so great!’

‘Yash, I’m sorry, but my patient needs some rest,’ Elsa interrupted. ‘You can chat later.’

‘Oh,’ Yash said, disappointed. ‘Sorry! See you later, bessie!’ he finished, waving enthusiastically.

The Doctor gave a weak, half-assed salute. ‘See ya.’

Yash left, and Elsa turned her attention back to him, pulling back the blankets slightly and testing his bruised chest. 

‘You’re a little hypothermic and I think you've got some slightly bruised and cracked ribs. The rest is fairly superficial, you’ll be fine,’ she told him. ‘Now sleep. Doctor’s orders, Doctor,’ she said with a snort of laughter at her own joke.

‘You’re a doctor?’

‘Oh, sorry, yes. Sort of. I’m a neighbour of Quiin,’ she said, pointing at an alien across the cave. ‘I was a doctor before all this happened. Well, in training. Quiin’s teenage son fell ill and he asked me to help since he couldn’t exact see a GP. I sort of became the alien doctor for the neighbourhood after that. All pretty hush stuff. Wasn’t smart to talk about aliens back then.’

‘That’s … amazing,’ the Doctor muttered.

‘Insane, more like,’ Elsa said, laughing. ‘But it seemed to work.’ She stopped laughing, and paused, before looking at him seriously. ‘Sorry … but how did you get these injuries?’

The Doctor winced. ‘Doesn’t matter.’

‘Help me to help you,’ she implored. ‘I need to know to help to treat you better, and I’m sorry, but this type of bruising only really comes from trauma. And not the hit-by-a-car kind. Could you tell me?’

The Doctor looked at her. ‘I ... met some angry humans.’ 

He didn’t need to say anything else. She got it. ‘God, I’m sorry.’

‘What’re you sorry for?’

‘They don’t understand, I swear,’ she said anxiously. ‘Please don’t think we all want you dead. We’re not all like that.’

‘I know.’

She smiled, wiping a little at her eye before pulling the covers back over him. ‘Now go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up in a few hours to eat. And you’re completely safe here. Please remember that.’

* * *

The Doctor had felt strong enough to get up when Elsa had woken him, so he’d got dressed and followed her into another section of the caves where there were around fifteen people sat in a messy circle, eating communally. On his entrance, they all looked up.

‘I’ll get you something to eat,’ Elsa said, and disappeared, leaving him with the crowd. They were all still staring at him. 

‘Um, hello,’ the Doctor supposed, waving a hand. ‘I’m … the Doctor.’

It was strange how out of place he felt among humans these days. Despite Elsa’s assurances and the presence of other non-humans amid the crowd, he still wondered briefly if he was about to get a fist in the face for saying his name.

‘Hello, deary!’ an old lady hailed him happily. ‘You sit right next to me.’ She patted a space on a log next to her. 

He obediently sat down. ‘Thank you. What’s your name?’ he asked the lady.

‘Audrey,’ she told him.

The Doctor smiled. ‘I hear you make great flapjacks.’

She laughed. ‘I try!’ 

‘What kind?’

‘All sorts, but I do like banana and honey the most,’ she said.

‘Mmm,’ the Doctor said. ‘I could do with some of those.’

She laughed and patted him on the knee. ‘Well, young man, I will have to invite you to one of my beanos.’

‘Oh, not another one,’ an elderly man, presumably Albert, moaned from next to her. Everyone laughed.

‘And what’s wrong with my beanos?’ Audrey asked her husband.

‘Nothing, my love,’ Albert replied innocently, winking at the Doctor. Everyone laughed again, the Doctor included.

Audrey sighed loudly, looking at the Doctor. ‘Fifty-eight years and he still doesn’t have the courage to criticise my beanos.’

‘I do wish you’d stop calling them beanos,’ Albert said. ‘Nobody’s called them that since the war ended.’

'Oh, because you're modern aren't you?’ she chastised, looking at the Doctor again. 'Do you know what he chose for our 50th wedding anniversary dance?’ 

'What?’

'Please Release Me by Engelbert Humperdinck.’

More laughter.

'I'm really going to have to trade him in for a younger model. Are you married?’ she asked the Doctor.

'Yeah, I am,’ the Doctor replied, grinning.

'What a shame,’ she said sighing loudly. Yet another chorus of laughs. The Doctor realised that he hadn't laughed this hard since he'd been with Rose, and that was beginning to feel like a lifetime ago.

In the time that followed, Audrey and Albert continued to snipe each other, the entire crowd in hysterics at their every sentence. The Doctor somehow knew that this was a common occurrence in this place. Unlike UNIT, these people had bonded through friendship and shared need, and had worked together to build a small society. A seemingly impossible combination of humans and nonhumans was working so much better than UNIT’s obligation to save as many humans as possible and otherwise hide the aliens away. 

Everything he loved about the human race was right here to be enjoyed. Killing 30,000 of them for his own race, right now, seemed so implausible. Yet, in the back of his mind, there was a little niggle of its viability. His father had been right. 30,000 of seven billion was  _ such  _ a small sacrifice to save his race ... 

He mentally slapped himself for even the thought of actually doing it. It was still murder. People like Elsa, Audrey and Albert. The people that came through and gelled together with those they were supposed to hate in the face of adversity. Those were the people he’d be sacrificing, and he was losing focus of that through emotion and the feeling of his mother.

But if it wasn’t for him, the time ghosts wouldn’t be in that position in the first place. Sure, he’d be murdering 30,000 people, but he’d be saving 30,000 people he’d murdered. Did that make it redemption? He couldn’t decide.

The Doctor felt a little sick at the idea his moral compass was already attempting to rationalise it into something his psyche could cope with, so he forced himself to focus on the people around him. Humans, non-humans, young, old, male, female, black, white, rich, poor, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. All individuals, with stories and minds and emotion and curiosity. He then tried to imagine all of them, dead, replaced by his own race. 

Replaced by his family, his friends and even some of 2.47 billion children who’d died because of his actions.

It was seriously frightening him that, actually, it didn’t feel that bad.

He’d never wanted to talk to Rose more than now.

Two minutes later, Elsa returned with some food. It was basic and fairly bland, but the Doctor was so hungry that he didn’t particularly care. ‘Thank you,’ he told her.

‘You’re welcome,’ Elsa said with a smile, taking a seat.

‘Can I ask you something?’ he directed at Elsa, his previous thoughts whirling around inside his head.

‘Sure. What?’

‘Why don’t you want to kill me?’

Elsa looked confused. The otherwise chatting crowd fell silent, staring at them. ‘You said that before. Why are you asking that?’

‘Every human I’ve met recently wants aliens dead, and me in particular. That thing with the abductees, I know.’

‘We don’t have to go there. How’s your food?’

He ignored her trying to change the subject. ‘Please. I need this,’ he said honestly.

‘Anyone with half a brain knows it wasn’t you talking on that video,’ Elsa said kindly. 

‘What actually happened?’ one of the men in the crowd asked.

‘Let him eat,’ Elsa said quickly.

The Doctor looked at her, and then the man. ‘No, it’s okay. What is it?’

‘What actually happened with that abductee stuff? We only heard one side of the story.’

‘Doctor …’ Elsa tried again.

‘No, it’s fine,’ the Doctor insisted. ‘The man who did all of that, Toby, he’d abducted my son, my friend’s son and my best friend. Our son was only one-year-old at the time, and my wife couldn’t take it. She left in the middle of the night to the same place. Then Toby arrived with a small army, and said if I didn’t go with him then he’d kill everyone I knew. I had to go. I was tortured for three weeks. My son was so upset he cried constantly, and Toby used a tranquilliser on him because he was sick of the noise. Alex had a bad allergic reaction, and stopped breathing. I made a deal with Toby – I would take responsibility for everything he’d done to the people he’d abducted in exchange for getting my son treatment. I did it.’

‘That was that video,’ Elsa realised.

‘Yeah,’ the Doctor replied. ‘I nearly gave up after that. Toby took the best bits of everyone of the abductees. One in our cell was Asha. She was from Malawi. She was brilliant, in every way. Toby took her immune system and she died of a cold. We escaped, but the rest of the abductees were dead. There was no one left to save.’

‘That’s why the army found all those disfigured people,’ a man said, his chin in his hand.

‘Yeah.’

‘You were okay, weren’t you?’ a woman asked, concerned, as everyone stared at him in stunned silence.

‘No. I was already terminally ill. The torture caused me to get much worse very quickly. I died and regenerated a week later. That’s a Time Lord thing,’ he added.

‘God,’ one of the women said, her jaw agape.

‘Who’s this Toby?’ another one asked.

‘I don’t really know,’ the Doctor confessed. ‘But I’m going to find out.’

‘Then what?’ the same person asked.

‘... Help him,’ the Doctor said after a moment’s serious thought. ‘He needs my help.’

‘That’s big of you.’

‘Or completely mad,’ the Doctor countered, devouring some more food.

They all laughed, if somewhat hesitantly. Eventually, after a few questions, the focus shifted from him, and conversations resumed.

30,000 humans for 30,000 gallifreyans, he mused.

If only one of them wasn’t his mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is totally finished in the rework and all of it is ready to be posted now. I don't want to bombard y'all so I'm going five chapter at a time every 3-4 days. Let me know if you'd like it slower/faster, or if like the proverbial porridge it's juuuust right :)


	16. Apocolypse Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose is reunited with Jack and Zak, and the invaders force the Doctor into action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So after what I said I completely missed the last posting so I'll heap it on you over the course of this evening to the end! :D

Rose had been inside enough spaceships by now to know that she was being led a route that usually ended in some sort of bridge, or the place where all the orders were coming from, at least.

She wasn’t wrong. They reached what was obviously some sort of control room, where many of the pinhole-mouthed aliens were sitting at space-age computers, talking into headsets. Their speech was still translating for her, so that could only be a good thing. The Doctor was still alive and well.

She was led over to some sort of holding cell within the control room. There was a faint shimmer in the air – obviously a forcefield of some kind, so she could see inside. She immediately had to contain a shriek of delight as she saw Jack and Zak sitting there, staring at her. On seeing her, Jack sat up, alert, and said something, but she couldn’t hear it. The force field was soundproof.

The holding cell was opened, she was shoved inside, and it closed.

‘Rose!’ Jack exclaimed, delighted.

‘Oh my god,’ she said, running to him. ‘What’re you doin’ here, you idiots?’

‘Yeah, we’re fine, thanks for asking,’ Jack joked.

Rose laughed. ‘Sorry, yeah, are you two okay?’

Jack glanced at Zak, who nodded. ‘We’re fine. How did you get here?’ he asked.

‘Hey, I asked first,’ Rose said, smiling.

Jack shrugged. ‘The usual. Zak got mistaken for the Doctor and they came chasing after us. Didn’t take them long to realise it wasn’t him.’

‘How long have you been here?’

Jack shrugged again. ‘Few days? I've lost track.’

‘What have they done to you?’

Jack looked at Zak. ‘Nothing, expect they used his biology to deep scan for gallifreyans.’

‘The Doctor, Leah and Alex are gonna get caught cos of me,’ Zak muttered..

‘Oh, no, I got caught by the same thing,’ Rose said. ‘Leah’s here as well. The Doctor and Alex aren't. I think they got away. It’s okay.’

‘Leah's here?’ Jack asked, wide-eyed. ‘Where is she!?’

‘They didn't bring her to this room. They left her in the room they took me from.’

‘This is all my fault,’ Zak moaned.

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Rose told him. ‘We’re all gonna be fine. We’re still alive, so I don’t see why they’d kill her either. It’s not your fault.’

‘How did the deep scan detect you? You’re not a gallif ...’ Jack stopped in mid-sentence as the penny dropped, his eyes dropping to her belly. ‘Are you …?’

Despite herself, she couldn’t help but smile. ‘Yeah. Yeah, I am.’

Jack hesitated a little. ‘It  _ was  _ planned, right?’

‘Yeah.’

He relaxed and hugged her as best as his bound hands would allow. ‘Congratulations!’

‘Thanks,’ Rose said.

‘Do they know?’ Jack asked, gesturing at the invaders around them.

‘Probably. They scanned me and everythin’. They gotta know.’

Jack’s jaw steeled slightly. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll look after you. You’ll be fine. You and the baby. Does the Doctor know?’

‘Yeah, he does.’

‘So you’ve seen the Doctor? Is he okay? What does he look like now?’ Zak asked.

Rose winced, looking around them. ‘They’re not monitorin’ us, right?’ she whispered. ‘They can’t hear us?’

‘No, we tested it,’ Jack assured her. ‘Do Unit still have him? D’you know what they’re doing?’

Rose sighed, readjusting to sit cross-legged. ‘He … I’m sorry. We lied to you.’

Jack frowned. ‘About what?’

‘About … well, he’s not dead. He never was. Unit faked his death. They were trying to protect him.’

Jack’s frown deepened. ‘... You pretended he was dead?’

‘Unit had this plan and for it the Doctor had to be dead to everyone, includin’ you. I’m sorry, I swear. I felt so bad lyin’. He didn’t regenerate.’

‘Okay,’ was all Jack said about that. 

‘So where is he now?’ Zak asked.

Rose paused, looking between them. ‘Wait, you’re not mad?’

‘Seriously, how can we be mad?’ Jack asked, almost laughing. ‘As long as he’s okay, that’s all. So where is he?’

She relaxed, smiling, wondering why she’d even bothered worrying about it. ‘I dunno,’ she confessed. ‘He’s out there somewhere, on his own. He left Snowdon to take this lot down and I haven’t seen him since. He’s got a party shimmer with him, though so …’

‘He can look like anyone,’ Zak completed.

Rose nodded. ‘I dunno where he is, what he’s doin’, or what his plan is.’ 

‘Sounds like him,’ Jack joked. ‘He’ll pop up in a bit. Once he knows you and Leah are here.’

Rose nodded again, if a little absently. ‘I’m … I’m so scared for him, Jack.’

‘What? Why?’

‘When we were in Unit … God, humans  _ hate  _ aliens now. And they seriously hate him. This group of humans found out who he was and he got beat up cos of it. I think they woulda killed him if we didn’t get there in time.’

‘Really?’ Zak asked, wide-eyed.

‘What did they do?’ Jack asked, slightly rigid.

‘I didn’t see, but when I got there he was on the floor of this basement all bloody and tied up. He could barely move he hurt so much.’

‘Wow,’ Zak muttered.

‘They really, really hurt him. I was so angry, and he was so calm. I hated the humans for what they did so much, but he didn’t care. Just said it was natural for ‘em. I don’t think he’s willin’ to believe what people might do to him. I think he trusts the human race too much. He’s got way too much faith in ‘em. But they’re …’ She briefly paused. ‘They’re evil.’

Silence fell on the group. 

‘I know, I know what I sound like,’ Rose insisted. ‘But I believe that. and I hate that I do, but I swear it’s all I can think, now. I didn’t feel safe at Unit. We had to lie and pretend and … none of them helped me or Alex. They were happy to let us die. I hate them. My own race. I … I just don’t understand ‘em anymore.’

‘It’s okay, I get it,’ Jack assured her, looking at Zak, who nodded.

Rose sighed. ‘I just wanna see him again.’

‘He’s coming,’ Jack assured her. ‘Like I said, once he knows you and Leah are here he’ll be on the doorstep. Where’s Alex?’

‘He’s safe,’ Rose decided mid-sentence.

‘Is Kiana still in the Tardis inside Torchwood?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Good,’ he said. ‘That’s utterly impenetrable. Even deep scans won’t find her. Just gotta wait for the Doctor.’

Suddenly, the door of the holding cell opened, and in came three of the invaders. Wordlessly, they grabbed all three of them and forced them out at gunpoint, encouraging them towards a particular control desk. They sat her in the chair, and held a gun to her head. She stayed obediently quiet and still as she suddenly saw herself on the screen, with Jack and Zak stood behind her, also with guns at their heads. Rose knew this setup. She’d been here before. A camera.

* * *

The Doctor was sitting in the main area of the caves, staring at a wall, flipping the party shimmer over and over in his fingers, trying to justify to himself that his plan even had one iota of ever working. He wasn’t doing very well.

‘Hey, Bessie!’ a familiar voice interrupted his thought trail, and he looked up to see Yash. 

‘Yash,’ he said, smiling. ‘Talk to me.’

Yash grinned. ‘What about?’ he asked, sitting next to him.

‘I’ve got an idea. I can use the underground passages of Exeter to get right into the middle of the invaders’ headquarters. Then I can use the shimmer to get through the ship, changing my appearance constantly and leaving my biology everywhere so they’re following false trails, getting to the engines. I’ll disable them, then whilst they’re panicking I can find Zak and Jack, get them out, and walk right into their bridge. Then I’ll wait for inspiration to hit me. What d’you think?’

Yash stared at him for a moment. ‘Um, that’s a plan?’

‘Yes?’

‘But I thought all of your plans were awesome?’

‘Not all of them,’ the Doctor admitted sheepishly. ‘Never mind, forget it.’

‘Anyway, what’s a shimmer?’

The Doctor held out the party shimmer to him. ‘Changes your appearance.’

'Cool!’ Yash enthused, plucking it out of the Doctor's hand and pressing the button. He immediately changed into a medium-sized dark-haired human. 'Oh! This is just like that morphic box you gave me so I could live on Earth!’

The Doctor took it back, and Yash’s normal form returned. 'You've still got that?’

Yash nodded happily, digging in his pocket for a moment before pulling out the small silver box the Doctor had given to him. It was in near-perfect condition. ‘Never without it!’

‘So what’ve you been doing since I left you?’

‘I’m a cartoonist!’ Yeash said happily, putting away his morphic box. ‘I do this comic thing in the local paper! It’s about this man who lives with his mother and his mother won’t let him do what he wants to, so he’s gotta sneak around to do stuff! I won an award! This guy wants me to do this thing called a graphic novel! What’s a graphic novel?’

The Doctor smiled. ‘A very long comic strip,’ he said.

Yash looked delighted. ‘How long?’

The Doctor indicated the size of a large book with his hands. ‘That long.’

‘Really?’ I wanna do that!’ Yash said, enthused.

The Doctor’s smile widened. ‘How have you found living on Earth?’

‘It was everything I dreamt it would be!’ Yash said. ‘Except the past few months, they’ve sort of sucked, but it’s okay cos you’re gonna sort everything out, right? Everything’s gonna be fine! So I can go back home and do this graphic novel thing! What do you do with these graphic novel things after you’ve done ‘em?’ Yash didn’t even let the Doctor take a breath to answer. ‘Nah, wait, I don’t wanna know, I want it to be a surprise! I love it when I’m surprised cos it’s nearly always a good thing on this planet! Well, most of the time. Well, some of the time. But that’s okay! Cos that’s Earth, and if you love it, I love it! The human race is so cool! You’re so right, Doctor!’

‘I am?’ the Doctor murmured.

‘On the first day I was here I was feeling a bit homesick so I went into this shop called "Whussmiths" and found this book about the universe and the girl behind the counter asked me if I'd like a bag! She was so nice!'

'Um, Whussmiths?' the Doctor repeated.

'Yeah, Whussmiths!'

'D'you mean WHSmiths?' the Doctor wondered.

'Um, sure! Anyway, I said no but I felt bad so I went back and bought this thing which I don't even know what it does just so I could be polite and say yes, I'd like a bag! And I carry the thing with me cos it helps me to remember my first day on Earth! It was the best thing of my life!'

'What, your first day on Earth, the thing, or getting the bag?'

‘All three!' Yashmak said happily, and pulled something out of his pocket. 'What is it?'

'It's an electronic pencil sharpener,' the Doctor said after a quick look.

'A what now?'

'You put pencils in this hole and it sharpens them for you,' the Doctor replied, indicating with his finger where to put the pencils.

'Um, what's a pencil?' Yash wondered.

'Don't you use pencils to draw?' the Doctor asked.

'Nah, I use this thing,' Yash said, pulling yet another thing out of his expansive pockets. It was an iPad. ‘It’s got this thing where I can run my finger on it and it does stuff! I love human technology!’

The Doctor nodded, but then suddenly stopped dead, his eyes wide. 'Can I ...?' he ventured, reaching forward.

'Sure! It ran outta battery forever ago now though,' the young alien replied, giving it to him.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. 'Not a problem.'

Yash looked so happy at the fact the Doctor was using the sonic screwdriver it seemed as though he was about to burst. 'The sonic screwdriver! You know, on the Doctor Spacenet Forums everyone challenged me to get you to use it! I can’t take a picture, though,’ he finished sadly as the Doctor buzzed the iPad and it came into life. ‘Whoa!’ 

The Doctor shot a grin at him. As soon as it landed on the home screen, he buzzed it again.

‘What you doing?’ Yash asked.

‘I’m seeing if I can tap into communications of the invader’s headquarters,’ the Doctor said. ‘I need to find out what’s going on.’

‘Oh! Wait! We’ve already got that!’

‘You have?’

‘Yeah!’ Yash jumped up, and the Doctor followed him to another section of the caves where, to the Doctor’s delight, he saw a television screen linked up to a computer. He passed through the crowd and reached the screen, which was emitting the voices of the invaders in mid-communication.

‘Good work!’ the Doctor complemented.

'Thanks! Yeah, we linked it up to listen in!’ Yash said happily. 'Well, Quiin and Stephen did. But I totally would’ve if I knew how! Anyway, that's why you turning up looking like that was so weird! Cos the invaders said you were dead and you'd changed! But you're not! This is great!’

The Doctor upped the volume, listening intently. Seconds later, the white screen changed to a picture, and Rose’s face appeared, a gun to her head, with Zak and Jack in the background, each held at gunpoint too by two aliens he didn’t recognise the species of. The Doctor stilled, shocked.

‘Wait a sec, isn’t that …?’

_ ‘This is a message for the Doctor,’  _ Rose interrupted Yash, clearly reading off of something. _ ‘Please acknowledge this communication.’ _

The Doctor dived to the computer as Yash quietened the crowd, who all stopped and looked up to the screen, nudging each other. The Doctor ran his sonic over the aerial receiver. The picture temporarily broke up, and then re-established itself.

_ ‘Thank you,’  _ Rose said. The Doctor dived back in front of the screen, watching along with the rest of the crowd, including Elsa, as Rose continued,  _ ‘Doctor, we have your wife, your female spawn, your embryonic spawn, your clone and your friend. You have four hours to come to us. For every hour that passes, we’ll kill one of your associates.’ _

In the background, the alien holding Jack moved. Within the split second that followed, it shot him straight through the head, cleanly and precisely.

The entire crowd gasped. The Doctor couldn’t help but shudder as he saw Rose’s face abruptly drop. She was still staring straight into the camera, too petrified to move and utterly horrified as she obviously realised what had happened. Zak cried out, shocked and heartbroken as Jack’s body dropped out of view.

Even though Jack was immortal, the Doctor never ceased to be shocked by his death. Especially a death so callous, heartless and without remorse.

_ ‘… One by one, on the hour,’  _ Rose eventually continued, her voice shaking. She was almost crying.  _ ‘... They will die. Your clone will be sh-shot. Then your female spawn will be ... shot. Then your … your embryonic spawn will be shot, and without treatment, your wife will bleed to d-death. We will be scannin’ for … for biology. Make y-yourself known. M-message … ends.’ _

The screen cut out. For a moment, there was only horrified silence. Then, the Doctor straightened up.

‘I’m going to get a few miles away from here and let them know,’ the Doctor told them all, his jaw set. ‘Stay here, and you’ll be safe.’

‘But …. you can’t give yourself up,’ Elsa said, horrified. 

‘I’m sorry,’ the Doctor said honestly. ‘I truly am. But I can’t let them kill my family and my friends. I don’t know what they want with me, but if I have to die, I’ll do it.’

He looked at Yash, who was standing there, frozen into place. Then he straightened up too, and nodded. ‘I’m gonna come with you, Doctor.’

‘You’re not going anywhere,’ the Doctor informed him. ‘There’s no point in everyone dying. They want me, so they’ll get me. Stay here.’

‘No, but …’

‘I  _ mean  _ it,’ the Doctor spat. ‘You’re staying here.’

Elsa was almost in tears. ‘I know they shot your friend, but you’re all we’ve got …’

‘I’ll sort something out, I’ll make Earth safe,’ he assured them. ‘Don’t worry. You’ll have your planet back. I promise.’

‘But you …’

‘Go and live your lives, all of you,’ he told the crowd. ‘Be happy. Make others happy. Be free. Love, laugh, live. Eat, drink, dance, sing, create, do everything you can do. Forget about me. I’m nothing, and no one. Thank you.’

He turned to leave.

'No.’

The Doctor stopped, turning back to see Yash standing there, his fists clenched. 'I said –’

'Shut up,’ Yash interrupted, annoyed. 'I owe you so much, Doctor. You've given me everything. You've made me into who I am, and I want to help you. I'm gonna help you.’

'Me too,’ said Elsa.

The Doctor stared at them, taking a few deep breaths in an effort not to lose his temper. 'Look, thank you for offering, but even if you did come there's nothing you can do. There's no point.’

‘No, we can,’ Yash said suddenly.

‘Yash …’

‘Hey, listen to me!’ Yash demanded. The Doctor was taken aback. He’d never seen Yash so determined. ‘They don’t know what you look like, do they? So what if we got as many people as wanna come, then you use your box shimmer thing, then you’re part of the crowd and no one knows what you look like. Then you can take ‘em down!’

‘Don’t be an idiot,’ the Doctor said immediately. ‘They’ll kill you the moment they know you’re not me.’

‘But it gets you right into their headquarters!’ Yash pointed out.

‘I don’t care. I’m not putting you in danger.’

‘Not really your choice though, is it?’ Elsa pointed out. 

‘Yeah, it’s ours,’ another man he’d never even spoken to before said.

‘I want in,’ another man said.

‘Me too,’ a woman agreed.

‘What?’ the Doctor almost squeaked. ‘This is ridiculous!  _ No one _ is coming with me!’

‘I think you’re outvoted,’ Elsa pointed out.

‘You’ll probably die,’ the Doctor warned them. ‘All of you. Once they know me, you’re all dead. I don’t know if I’ll be able to save you. I can’t promise to keep you safe …’

Elsa stepped forward, taking his hand. ‘Staying alive is our problem. You’ve done enough for us. And with the human race treating you like shit recently, I think we owe you one.’

‘You owe me nothing,’ the Doctor insisted. 

‘Who wants to come?’ Yash suddenly said to the crowd. Roughly a third of people raised their hands. 

‘Then that’s settled,’ Yash stated firmly. ‘Everyone who wants to come, outside in two minutes.’

The Doctor watched, numb, as the crowd began to filter away. 

Elsa stayed by him. ‘We want to help,’ she said.

‘Please … Please don’t do this. Please,’ the Doctor found himself begging.

She hugged him reassuringly. ‘Let’s go and get your wife, your children, and your friends.’


	17. Downfall: Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor arrives on the ship, disguised among humans. Jack revives, and fulfills a promise he made to the Doctor long ago. The Doctor realises he has only only option to take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jack refers to a promise he made to the Doctor in Paroxysmic to always save Leah first.

Jack revived, as per usual, inside a rubbish receptacle heading towards an incinerator. He barely acknowledged that. He was getting far too used to this.

Gasping for air after his revival, he clambered over the side and fell onto the floor, looking around in case of unwanted eyes. But there was no one. For a moment he just laid there, recovering his breath as thoughts rushed through his head in small, frantic waves. The last thing he remembered was Rose to camera, being forced to read something that had been about killing them all. Jack assumed that he’d probably been the first victim, which was lucky. The invaders clearly didn’t know that he was immortal. 

He had no doubt the Doctor would be turning up very soon after the message. The next victim the invaders had listed was Zak, who was a whole lot less immortal than Jack himself. The Doctor would be here within the hour to stop them. But as he arrived, that immediately rendered Zak, Leah and Rose’s lives unimportant to the aliens, and at the same time the Doctor was going to be in  _ serious  _ trouble. Unless he had an amazing plan, he was about to quite literally give himself up. Then everyone was probably going to get killed anyway. One of those days, Jack mused.

He had to prioritise. For the first time in a long while they had an advantage – the invaders didn’t know he was alive. He could move around the ship, probably undetected, as they would be busy with the Doctor when he arrived. But who was in the most danger? Who needed saving first?

It didn’t take long to decide. Three years ago his best friend had made him promise to always,  _ always  _ save Leah first. It still stood. Nothing had changed. Whatever was about to happen in that control room, the Doctor, Zak, and Rose would be okay. He had faith.

Because somewhere on this spaceship was a four-year-old girl, alone and terrified.

He turned, and went to find the girl.

* * *

Zak and Rose were standing together in the control room, holding hands for emotional support as everything suddenly seemed to go very wrong for them. The invaders were all abuzz, chatting going back and forth about the location of the Doctor. Zak and Rose couldn’t speak to each other for fear of being shot, but they were both highly aware that once the Doctor was on the ship, their lives were forfeit. 

They were expecting the Doctor to appear on his own, so it was quite a surprise when after all the talking between the invaders, there was a bright blue light, and about twenty humans appeared in the transmat area. Zak and Rose both strained to see the Doctor, but he didn’t appear to be there.

As the invaders stood up, ready to approach the group, Zak glanced at Rose, who was still scouring the crowd intently. He then looked at the camera she had been forced to speak on. A glimmer of an idea came into his head. If he could turn the camera, maybe Jack would see what was going on.

He let go of Rose’s hand, and edged, ever so slightly sideways. Across the room, one of the invaders stepped forward to the crowd, all of whom were dead silent.

‘We know you are here, Doctor,’ it stated.

Zak edged a little more. He reached out a daring hand and got the tips of his fingers on the camera. 

‘Which one of you is the Doctor?’ the invader demanded to know.

No one in the crowd answered. Zak boldly pushed the camera. It fell sideways, but crucially, its lens was now focused on the rest of the room. He quickly drew back and retook Rose’s hand. Everyone was so focused on the human crowd that none of the invaders had noticed – not even the invader holding the gun to Zak’s head.

* * *

It didn’t take Jack long to find the little girl. He came across her by a complete stroke of luck, sitting in a featureless room on her own, her wrists and ankles chained. On his entrance to the room her red, puffy eyes widened and lit up as brightly as the Blackpool Illuminations.

‘Uncle Jack!’ she cried, delighted.

At the sight of his best friend’s four-year-old daughter chained up, something deeply primal and angry stirred within Jack, but he tried to ignore it and skidded on his knees beside the girl.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked her, getting the chains off as quickly as he could.

‘Yeah,’ the little girl said. She’d obviously been crying.

‘It’s okay, we’re getting out of here,’ Jack said, checking her wrists and ankles for any damage, but they were only a bit red. ‘Have they done anything to you?’

‘No,’ she replied. ‘Where are Mummy and Daddy?’

‘Close,’ Jack said, pulling her into a hug and kissing her forehead. ‘I’m gonna get you safe and then come back for them.’

‘Are the bad people gonna get us?’ she asked, her voice wavering as he clung onto his neck.

‘No,’ Jack told her firmly. ‘Don’t worry, Uncle Jack’s here to make everything okay. We’re getting outta this place.’

‘Okay,’ she said, and didn’t let go of him. 

He obligingly kept a hold of her, keeping her in his arms as he crept back out of the door. He did a quick mental calculation, trying to decide how best to get out of the HQ. He decided, turned, and immediately jumped in surprise at the person standing in front of him.

‘Hi!’ Seth said.

Jack blinked. ‘Seth? What …  _ how  _ did you get here?’

‘Followed the ship that took Rose,’ Seth replied, shrugging nonchalantly. ‘Where’s the Doctor?’

‘Here, I think,’ Jack said. ‘Probably in the control room.

Seth nodded decisively. ‘Let’s go,’ he said, but Jack quickly stopped him.

‘No, you gotta take Leah,’ Jack insisted. ‘Just get her the hell out of here.’

‘But …’

‘Where are they?’ another voice said. Jack jumped in surprise again, and saw Jackie standing there.

‘Jackie!’ he said. ‘You …’

‘I’d like to know where the hell my family are!’ Jackie snapped, her arms akimbo. ‘I’m just about done with all this secret stuff! Oh, hello, sweetheart!’ she said aside to Leah, smiling kindly.

‘Granny!’ Leah said happily.

‘Anyone else hiding around the corner?’ Jack asked seriously.

‘No,’ Seth replied. ‘Just us. We took the van. Jackie drove.’

‘You’ve got transport?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Where are the Doctor and Rose?’ Jackie wanted to know.

‘I think they’re both in the control room,’ Jack told her. ‘But it’s dangerous.’

‘What do we do?’ Jackie asked.

‘First priority is getting Leah out. Jackie, take Leah. Get her as far away from here as possible,’ he said, handing the girl over. ‘Just don’t stop.’

Jackie nodded. ‘What about Alex?’

‘Rose said he’s safe,’ Jack replied. ‘Now go. Me and Seth’ll get the Doctor, Zak and Rose.’

She looked like she was about to argue, but obviously realised what was in her arms and nodded. ‘Okay,’ she said, and ran in the opposite direction with Leah clinging onto her.

Seth handed Jack a loaded gun. ‘What’s the plan?’

‘Get to the control room, and …’

_ ‘Which one of you is the Doctor!?’  _ an invader suddenly shrieked from somewhere, electronic. Seth and Jack both looked up, alarmed, and saw a sideways picture of the control room on a monitor above their heads. Rose and Zak were there in the foreground with guns at their skulls, and a crowd of humans were also being aimed at.

‘Oh god,’ Jack muttered.

* * *

_ ‘You will reveal yourself Doctor! We know you are one of this crowd!’ _

Sarah was at the screen almost immediately. She saw Rose standing there, and her insides turned to ice. ‘Oh no. They’ve got them … Brigadier!’

He arrived almost immediately, taking in the situation on the screen before him. ‘What’s happening, here?’

‘They’ve got the Doctor, he took the ultimatum …’

* * *

‘We’ve got trouble!’ Ianto called. 

‘What is it?’ Gwen asked, running to the screen Ianto was staring at alongside Mickey and Martha. ‘... Oh.’

‘There’s Rose!’ Martha realised.

Ianto tapped at the keyboard urgently. ‘It’s broadcasting to every screen on Earth,’ he said. ‘Just like that previous transmission ...’

_ ‘Reveal yourself, or your wife will die!’ _

* * *

The Doctor, part of the crowd, looked at his wife standing there with a gun to her head. She was scanning the crowd desperately, trying to find him, but she obviously couldn’t. His eyes were drawn to her belly. Within himself, he could feel something through the bond – a warm tingle of some kind. The baby.

The invader talking to the human crowd was clearly losing patience. ‘Doctor, reveal yourself!’

The plan wasn’t going to work. He had planned to sneak out of the crowd whilst they were scanning all the humans for gallifreyan biology, and change places with Zak, but they weren’t going to wait to find him. He didn’t have a choice. He raised a hand. ‘I’m the Doctor,’ he stated, rapidly trying to think of a new plan.

The invader looked at him, and gestured to its kind to get him.

‘No!’ a voice from the crowd shouted boldly. ‘I’m the Doctor!’

The Doctor froze. That was Yash, he realised. ‘No,’ he said quickly. ‘I’m …’

‘Stop it,’ Elsa said suddenly. ‘I’m the Doctor.’

‘Stop trying to hide me,’ another woman said. ‘I’m the Doctor!’

‘I’m the Doctor, take me!’ a man implored the invaders.

The gun pointing at Rose’s head moved to her belly, the tip aiming directly at the warm tingle he could feel inside of him. He unintentionally shivered.

‘No, no,’ he said, almost stammering. He pulled the shimmer out of his pocket and threw it across the room. With a shot of pins and needles he changed back to his usual self. ‘I  _ am  _ the Doctor. I didn’t regenerate. Let these people go.’

The invaders dived forward to grab him. 

* * *

The moment the invaders took hold of the Doctor, Seth straightened up and pulled something out of his jacket. ‘You coming?’ he asked the immortal.

Jack looked at him, and then at the thing in his hand. It was a grenade. ‘Where did you get that?’

‘One of the weapons room in the Torchwood base,’ Seth said. ‘Now c’mon.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Gonna get ‘em!’ Seth said, and ran out of the door.

* * *

The Doctor found himself utterly helpless. He was dragged across the room with many eyes watching him, and promptly clamped in chains, which were wrapped several times around an immovable giant metal pole in the centre of the room. They clearly didn’t want him going anywhere, and at this rate, he wasn’t going to.

‘So what happens next?’ the Doctor wanted to know. ‘Going to kill me?’

The assassins didn’t answer. He watched, alarmed as they moved to the human crowd, and checked their weapons. Firing squad.

‘No, don’t … You’ve got me, you’ve got what you wanted, let them go,’ the Doctor stated.

The invaders didn’t say a word. The Doctor couldn’t help but glance at Rose. She looked like she was about to shatter into a million pieces on the spot, staring at him with desperation.

‘Hey!’ the Doctor insisted. ‘You have me, you don’t need these people!’

‘Kill them,’ one of the assassins said.

‘No, no, no!’ the Doctor shouted. ‘You don't need these people!’

‘They are contracted to die,’ one of the assassins said, for the first time actually replying directly to him.

‘Contract?’ the Doctor repeated. ‘No, wait, you're bounty hunters?’

‘No,’ a new voice said. ‘They're not bounty hunters. They're contract killers.’

'Brax!?’ Rose cried. The Doctor saw his brother step out of the crowd, but he looked a lot worse for wear than when the Doctor had seen him last. His usually perfect hair was all over the place, slightly wet and hanging in strands. His clothes were in tatters and hanging on a thin, underfed frame. He was covered in mud and cuts, but the most jarring thing of all was his face; he had scar tissue on the right side, and some of his hair on the same side was gone. His ear was in a pulpy mess and as the Doctor followed the pattern of damage, he realised that the scar tissue continued down the side of his neck and beyond his collar. Everything was very,  _ very  _ fresh-looking.

'They’re contracted to kill everyone except you, and to deliver you,’ Brax continued, cool and calm. 

‘Where?’ the Doctor managed, still gaping at his appearance.

‘To Toby.’

The Doctor stared at him. ‘What?’ was all he could say.

Brax looked around at the crowd, then to the camera Zak had subtly pointed their way. ‘The man who really killed the fifty-three abductees,’ he said to it. ‘The man who tortured the Doctor, and forced him to take the fall on the threat of letting the Doctor’s one-year-old son die. Toby has hired the best contract killers in the universe to kill everyone the Doctor has ever loved, and to destroy the human race, just for fun. He did this, and he laughed,’ he said, pointing at his own face, with the scar tissue. ‘Right now, this man you hate so much is the only person capable and willing to save you.’

He pointed straight at the Doctor. 

‘Enough. Kill all of them,’ one of the assassins said calmly, and every other assassin took aim.

The Doctor could only watch, helpless to what was about to happen. The humans that had helped him. His pregnant wife. His clone. His brother. Everyone was going to die. 

Despite Brax's words, there was nothing he could do to stop this.

The Doctor realised, then. There was only one option, and the lergri had been counting on it. 

He took a quick, steely breath, and opened his mind.

This time it felt like a bullet train the size of Jupiter was smashing into every single atom of his body. He was vaguely aware of yelling as the power of the collective lergri utterly ripped through him, voices of people he’d presumed to be long since dead now inside his head, circulating, screaming in a million different languages. His time sense was having an absolute meltdown, trying desperately to cope with the complete catastrophe of the paradox now going on inside his head.

It  _ hurt _ . Every single cell of his body was screaming and thrashing and burning and exploding simultaneously. He couldn’t cope. He was aware he was still screaming, even as he lost focus of the room in front of him to an overwhelmingly bright light, and he snapped his eyes shut. 

He’d never,  _ ever  _ felt so scared. Because he was sure the only thing that could follow this horrific experience was death.

Suddenly, everything stopped, and he realised he was. As the pain ebbed away it was replaced quickly by nothing but dead silence. He was suddenly aware that he was breathing rapidly, his hands over his eyes.

‘Theta. Open your eyes,’ his mother’s voice said.

‘I don’t want to,’ he whined in a child’s voice.

‘Don’t be silly. How are you going to know where you’re going if you don’t open your eyes?’ 

‘I don’t want to know where I’m going,’ he said, almost crying.

‘How can you not want to know where you’re going?’

‘Because I don’t want to know the end.’

‘Don’t be silly, boy,’ his father’s voice reprimanded. ‘Open your eyes, right now.’

A little wash of fear blew through the Doctor at the command of his imposing father. Unwillingly, he dropped his hands and opened his eyes. In front of him he saw the inside of the invader’s spaceship, but everything was frozen into place. The assassins were poised to fire on the crowd. Zak was panicking. Yash was trying to move out of the way. Elsa was crying. Brax was calling out. Rose was staring at him, shocked, horrified, intrigued and desperate all at once. 

His time sense was struggling badly to cope. He knew, whatever he was looking at, was wrong on so many levels. The distortion of time, a symptom of the universe breaking apart. 

Because of his son.

_ ‘We are free!’  _ a million voices screamed in unison inside his head.

He abruptly realised he’d just made one of the worst decisions of his life.

The Doctor lost control.


	18. Downfall: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In order to stop the lergri and save humanity, the Doctor has to fight with everything he has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter gets quite dark, with references to torture and abuse.

The execution of the humans was suddenly interrupted by a scream from the right, and Rose looked over to see her husband, still chained up, thrashing and screaming in his bonds. He somehow seemed to be out of focus, his image pulsating and throbbing in her vision.

‘Doctor!’ she yelled on instinct, but he did nothing but scream. Some kind of big, cracked, otherworldly rift opened up behind him in the floor and out poured thousands of ghostly apparitions, moving straight from it and into the Doctor. He was absorbing them. After what felt like forever but was in reality only three seconds, the last of the apparitions went into the Doctor. He stopped moving, stopped screaming, just standing there hunched over in the chains holding him with his eyes closed. Everyone in the room was staring, confused and terrified, as suddenly the Doctor straightened up and opened his eyes.

Rose gasped. They were completely white, as though someone had shoved pearls into his eye sockets. His face was pale and devoid of expression, like a corpse. 

_ ‘We are speaking to you through the body of this Time Lord,’  _ he said in some distant voice that seemed to both be audible and inside Rose’s head. The Doctor clearly wasn’t in control.  _ ‘You have no right to be on this planet. You will leave immediately and terminate your contract.’ _

‘We never terminate contracts,’ one of the assassins hissed.

_ ‘Leave, or you will die.’ _

The assassins looked at each other unsurely for a moment, before one spoke up, ‘we will not do that.’

_ ‘Then you will die,’  _ the Doctor's body said, and immediately the chains around him began to change - rusting and breaking apart, as though something was speeding up their ageing process. They fell away from the Doctor and he effortlessly stepped forward, imposing and terrifying.

‘Doctor?’ Rose whined.

One of the assassins stepped forward, its gun aloft. Rose gasped, but the Doctor's body barely moved. He simply looked at the gun, and it quickly aged just like the chains, and it fell to pieces in the assassin's hands. Then, the Doctor's body focused on the assassin who had been holding the gun. The most horrific thing happened.

The assassin completely stopped moving, and started to change. Its face became less moist and slightly sagged, its limbs thinned of muscle and its skin wrinkled. It was being aged at a dramatic rate, Rose realised, just like the chains and the gun.

‘No,’ she gasped, looking at the Doctor in complete horror. ‘Stop! Doctor!’

Whatever was inside the Doctor wasn’t listening. His body continued to gaze at the assassin as it clearly died and began to putrefy. Its body swelled and the pungent smell of death washed over Rose, before parts of the assassin turned black, and his body collapsed in on itself, the muscles and internal organs rotting away to nothing. It then dried out, before the flesh ate away and all that was left to collapse to the floor was a sticky, bloody alien skeleton.

‘Stop it!’ she yelled. ‘Let the Doctor go!’

The Doctor’s body looked straight at her. She flinched badly, half-closing her eyes as suddenly a strange feeling overcame her …

* * *

The Doctor was watching through his own eyes, utterly helpless as to what the lergri were doing. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t use telepathy. He couldn’t move. But he had to do  _ something. _

He tried to scream, but his mouth remained closed. He fought with everything he had to look away from Rose. Finally, he managed to emit a yell, and twist his body away in a jerk. He rapidly lost control again as the lergri, infuriated, pushed him deeper inside his own head. 

* * *

Suddenly the Doctor’s body twisted and yelled out, and to Rose’s utter relief he looked away, and instead concentrated on the other assassins who were all standing stock still and staring at their ex-comrade. They clearly had no idea what to do.

_ ‘Terminate your contract and leave this planet,’  _ the Doctor’s body rasped.

‘Lower your weapons,’ one of the aliens finally hissed to its comrades. They all immediately obeyed.

_ ‘Never return!’  _ the Doctor’s body demanded.  _ ‘We control this planet and own its people now!’ _

* * *

The Doctor was panicking. He’d had hopes of being able to overcome the lergri, but that was gone, now. He was going to lose 30,000 humans. ‘What are you doing!?’ he gasped inside his own head. It was all he could do. ‘You said you’d take bodies, not the whole planet! The deal was you’d live alongside them!’

‘And live as an inferior species?’ the lergri ask incredulously in a chorus inside his head. ‘Gallifreyans are not inferior. We will revive and own this planet, we will make a new Gallifrey right here with its people as our slaves!’

‘What!?’ the Doctor yelped. ‘That age is gone! No one is being  _ anyone’s  _ slave, got that?’

‘You can’t fight us now we’re through, Doctor,’ the lergri said. ‘We will take this planet. You will be tried for mass murder, and the sentence will be to spend the remainder of your lives in perpetual suffering.’

A vision slammed into the Doctor’s head. He saw himself chained up in a public square, heavily bruised, cut and broken into pieces, left out in the elements by night and tortured by the populace during the day like a fairground attraction, people paying a fee and taking a turn to do whatever they liked with him. 

‘I don’t care, do what you like, just leave the humans alone,’ he gasped as the vision abruptly ended.

The lergri continued, oblivious, ‘your children will help to fuel the new Gallifrey.’

Another vision crashed into his head. Four young adult gallifreyans, a woman with brown hair, a man with brown hair, a woman with black hair, and one who could only be his baby, a blond man, lying in tubes that were linked up to machines. All of them were stunted by lack of food and light and they were gaunt and pale, their regenerative energies being sucked out to act as batteries for the new empire.

‘No ...’

‘And your wife will also suffer for your crimes,’ the lergri added. Another vision, this time of Rose in a cell, beaten and humiliated, with tears streaming down her partially-destroyed face.

‘You can do whatever you like with me, just  _ leave her alone!’  _ the Doctor demanded.

‘And the humans will work, or die,’ the lergri finished at the final vision impacted him. People he knew and loved, Martha, Mickey, Elsa, Sarah, Audrey, and even Ollie the physiotherapist in a chain gang, being whipped to be forced to work. 

‘These are visions of the future, and there’s nothing you can do,’ his father said, appearing in his mind’s eye.

‘Father,’ the Doctor begged. ‘Please!’

‘You still want to be punished for the Time War, my boy,’ his father said. ‘We will give that punishment to you.’

His mother appeared next to his father in his mind's eye, completely dressed in white. The colour she’d warned him about. The colour of death on Gallifrey. ‘I’m so sorry, Theta,’ his mother said. ‘I did try to warn you. Alex's existence has made the hive mind so strong among the lergri. I could do nothing else.’ 

* * *

People were running and screaming, scattering like insects in the control room. only Rose, Brax and Zak stood their ground, watching the Doctor’s body as it screamed and twisted. Out of his mouth there was a conversation between two parties. One of them was the Doctor, Rose knew. 

_ ‘This isn’t happening! None of this is happening! Just take me, do whatever you want to punish me, but these people are innocent!’ _

_ ‘You are helpless.’ _

She looked at Brax, who saw her and limped over, taking her arm. 

‘What’s happening!?’ she asked, terrified.

‘Thete’s telepathically fighting.’

‘Fighting what?’

‘30,000 gallifreyans. It’s one against an army.’

* * *

‘I am  _ never  _ helpless!’ the Doctor roared, and began to fight with every modicum of mental strength that he had against the invading lergri. He was barely able to get going. All his walls and shields and doors were breaking apart under the stress.

‘You can’t win,’ the lergri said. ‘Stop fighting.’

‘You’re  _ not  _ touching the humans!’

‘There is nothing you can do.’

‘I haven’t got this far without being told there’s nothing I can do before!’ the Doctor cried, and pushed a little more. The lergri were forced back a little.

‘We could wipe your brain in a second and use your body as a vessel,’ the lergri chorused. ‘Stop fighting.’

The Doctor was losing mental strength rapidly. He couldn’t keep it up. He was forced back a little.

* * *

‘No, no, no, he can’t do it,’ Brax muttered. 

‘We need to help,’ Rose said quickly.

Brax looked at her briefly. ‘You want to help?’

‘Yeah!’ Rose said anxiously. ‘Can I get in there? In his head? Like the Master did before?’

Wordlessly, he took her arm, and pulled her to the Doctor. He rested her fingers on the Doctor’s shaking temples, and closed his eyes. 

* * *

The Doctor suddenly felt a presence beside him. He looked, and to his surprise saw Rose. ‘Rose, what …’

A new hand placed itself on his other shoulder. It was Brax.

‘Thete, we’re with you,’ Brax said.

‘I dunno what’s goin’ on but I’ll do whatever you tell me to, yeah?’ Rose said.

‘Thete, do you want these gallifreyans back or not?’ Brax asked simply.

‘Don’t you care?’ the Doctor asked, confused.

‘I trust you to make this decision.’

‘Then no,’ the Doctor gasped. ‘They have to be stopped.’

Brax nodded, and together the brothers and Rose pushed against the lergri, trying to force them out of the Doctor’s head and back to where they’d come from. Inch by inch, together they pushed them away. 

‘We don’t want to do this, Theta, but you leave us no choice.’

The lergri began to fight back.

* * *

Seth and Jack bolted into the control room. Zak dived to Jack immediately.

‘Something’s happened, the Doctor’s fighting in his head!’ he told Jack. ‘Brax and Rose are trying to help!’

‘What?’

‘There’s some kind of army trying to get through, they’re gonna enslave the humans and make everyone suffer!’

Jack thought about that for only a few seconds, and then kissed Zak as he decided immediately what to do. ‘I’m joining them.’

Zak grabbed his wrist. ‘I’m coming!’

‘Me too!’ Seth said.

They ran over to where the crowd were. Jack took Zak and Seth’s hands, and tried desperately to remember his Time Agent telepathy training. 

* * *

Jack appeared next. 

‘Jack!?’ the Doctor gasped.

‘I’m with you!’ Jack cried, placing his hands on the Doctor’s back and offering him support. ‘I’ve got you! Always got your back!’

‘And me!’ Zak said, jumping to support Jack.

‘I dunno what the hell’s going on but I’m here!’ Seth said, and put himself next to Rose to push on the wall. The increase of firepower started to overcome the lergri.

* * *

Jackie was only just getting into the van to drive Leah away when the little girl suddenly yelped.

‘Sweetheart?’ she asked.

‘My head’s hurting,’ she moaned.

Within seconds, Jackie could feel it too. A potent headache suddenly erupting, and it steadily became worse and worse. It felt like something had taken hold of her brain and was trying to pull it out through her skull …

* * *

Sarah’s head began to hurt, and quickly she realised that some other people in the room seemed to wince too.

‘Oh, god, what is this?’ Ollie moaned, his hand on his head.

Sarah just about managed to open her eyes through the throbbing and look back at the screen, where she could see Brax, Rose, Jack and Seth all gathered around the Doctor, fighting the thing in his head.

‘The D-Doctor said about t-taking bodies,’ she managed to stammer out, having to close her eyes again. ‘They’re … They’re tr-trying to t-take over…’

* * *

Inch by inch, the group were forcing the lergri back. The lergri were screaming, infuriated.

Suddenly visions exploded in all their heads simultaneously. Rose saw the Doctor chained up in a public square, absolutely decimated. The Doctor saw her, in that cell, crying as she knelt in a puddle of blood. Jack saw Zak, lying dead in a ditch, and Zak saw Jack, being experimented on in a lab, repeatedly dying in horrific ways. Brax saw his brother’s children as adults, being used as batteries. Seth saw himself, standing in some underground, dark place, holding a gun to his own head, ready to shoot himself.

They all stopped, shocked by the visions. The lergri burst forward.

‘No, ignore it!’ the Doctor yelled, encouraging everyone back to pushing even though he could still see Rose, suffering. He closed his eyes, but the image didn’t go away.

‘It’s in my head!’ Zak gasped. ‘I can’t unsee it!’

‘They’re trying to scare us with potential futures!’ the Doctor cried.

‘And they’re doing a fucking good job!’ Jack yelled, barely able to stop himself crying.

‘Make it stop!’ Rose begged.

‘Keep pushing and it’ll stop!’ Brax ordered.

Despite the pain, the images and the tears streaming down their faces, together they continued to push. It was horrific, but slowly, very slowly, they pushed back the lergri.

‘Nearly there!’ Brax shouted.

Suddenly, the visions changed. Rose saw herself in the Tardis infirmary, holding a newborn healthy boy, just as she wanted. In Brax’s vision he was undergoing healing to get rid of the scar tissue, laughing jovially with Jack as he got his face, returning to the nicely-presented man he liked to be. Jack saw himself back in his Torchwood base in Cardiff with Ianto, the both of them watching Kiana walk around; having someone to call him Daddy, like he’d been craving. Zak saw him and Jack, arm in arm, sitting next to the sea, eating chips, utterly at peace and in love. Seth saw himself making breakfast in the TARDIS, offering Leah some toast in the normality he pined for so much. 

The Doctor, however, saw the events of the next two minutes. 

Now he knew exactly what he had to do.

Forced on by the blissful potential futures, everyone kept going. Something suddenly seemed to click, and the memories playing in their heads disappeared.

‘Got it!’ the Doctor cried, and stopped pushing.

‘They’re out?’ Rose asked, gasping for air.

‘They’re trapped inside his head,’ Brax said. ‘They still have to be destroyed.’

The Doctor looked back at them all. ‘I've got an idea, but you all need to get out of my head first. Thank you.’

They all nodded, and disappeared.

* * *

The five of them came out of the Doctor's head, back into the control room with a gasp for air, falling back to the floor. For a moment they just caught their breath, before the Doctor stood up. They all looked at him, cautiously backing away. His eyes were still shining pearls of white.

'Doctor?’ Rose asked, slightly fearfully.

He looked at her. She flinched, but he smiled, and she relaxed.

_ 'I've got them under control for a bit,’  _ he said in that strange, distant voice, like he was speaking from another room. He winced a little.

‘Are you okay?’ Jack asked quickly, moving to touch him.

_ ‘Don’t,’  _ the Doctor warned, backing away from them.  _ ‘Stay back. Keep away.’ _

They all obeyed immediately.

_ ‘Further than that,’  _ he said.

They went even further back, until they were standing at least five metres away from him. He nodded, and winced again.

_ ‘I haven’t got long,’  _ he said.  _ ‘I’m sorry.’ _

He raised a hand, directly at Seth. The grenade in the teenager’s jacket pocket was suddenly lifting out  _ –  _ enhanced telekinesis. It flew across the room and straight into the Doctor's grip.

‘What …?’ Rose asked.

_ ‘I don’t even have time to say goodbye,’  _ he said, tears now glistening on his cheeks.  _ ‘After all this.’ _

He flinched again. The flinches were very quickly becoming worse.

‘Goodbye?’ Rose repeated. ‘What you talkin’ about?’

_ ‘I love you, all of you. Don’t stop. Never stop.’ _

'What are you doing?’ Jack asked, terrified.

He took one last look at them all, as if taking a mental picture. 

_ 'They can't be allowed to enter the world,’  _ he said.  _ 'I'm the gate. I need to be destroyed.’ _

'What!!' Rose cried as she realised what he was inferring.

_ 'I love you, Rose _ .  _ Thank you so much. Good bye.' _

Then, to everyone’s complete horror, he pulled the pin on the grenade and jumped into the rift behind him.

‘No!’ Rose screamed, utterly mortified as she watched her husband jump. For a moment she couldn't move, just staring at the rift, before she eventually forced herself forward, her world spinning and merging around her in a blind panic.

She went to the edge, but Jack quickly grabbed her. 'Stay back!’ he said.

'Get off!’ Rose shrieked, but he held her firm. 'We’ve gotta help him!’

But as she said it, the rift bulged slightly, and closed up. Then there was complete silence.

'No, no, he's okay,’ Rose said suddenly, her eyes widening. 'The bond feels normal, I swear, he's alive …’

No one moved.

She looked at them all. 'We can open the rift thing, yeah? We can get down there and get him out!’

Silence.

'Someone get a rope, or something, we gotta help him, he's still alive!’

Silence.

Rose scanned around the room at the myriad of expressionless faces. 'Someone do somethin’!’

'We can't get in the rift,’ Brax said, his voice trembling. 

'But he's alive!’ she yelled, angry.

'If he's alive, he's been suspended in time.’

'But we can …’

'We can't,’ Brax muttered.

‘You’re the Time Lord! Do  _ somethin’!  _ Get him back!!!’

Brax’s silence said it all.

It took a moment for her to process. Then she burst into tears, sagging in Jack's grip, beating on his chest as she screamed and wailed in pure, undivided heartbreak.


	19. Frozen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Earth recovers from its apocalyptic state. Everyone struggles to cope with the Doctor’s departure.

The Master finally reached the Torchwood Tate base, Alex in tow. Travelling with a two-year-old had been a new experience for him, but Alex talked a lot less than his sister, which was a relief. The kid, although Fateless and therefore quite a drain on his time instincts, did everything he was told to. The Master had to seriously wonder how such a docile kid had come out of the rebellious catastrophe that was his father.

The Master went to the entrance of the base, and for a few minutes just stood there, waiting. As he’d assumed, eventually Brax came out. He had a scarf wrapped around his head. The Master could just about see some scar tissue on his cheek.

‘Got caught in a fire?’ the Master wondered.

Brax stared at him, and held out his hand to Alex. The child immediately moved forward and took it. ‘Thank you,’ he said, ignoring the Master.

‘You know what? You’re  _ welcome,  _ Irving Braxiatel,’ the Master said, somewhat mockingly. ‘Where is your scrawny little brother, anyway?’

Brax continued to gaze at him. ‘He’s dead, Koschei.’

‘What?’

‘Well, he’s not dead, he’s … well, he’s never coming back.’

‘Why not?’

‘He’s in a rift, probably suspended in time,’ Brax explained. ‘He’s not coming out.’

‘He took the lergri?’

‘He did. He couldn’t let them into this world, so he trapped them, and himself.’

‘So he stopped our race returning and chose the humans over them,’ the Master surmised.

‘Yes.’

‘I never thought I’d say this, but smart move,’ the Master mused, and looked at Alex. ‘The boy still needs to go to Anzen.’

‘I know. We’ll do it,’ Brax assured him.

‘Does the Doctor’s wife know the kid has to go, yet?’

‘Not yet.’

‘Wish I could see when you tell her she has to give up her son,’ the Master said, smirking a little. 'I mean, that's hard at any time but right after her husband just jumped into an abyss? I hope you've got a suicide watch rota.'

‘Don’t turn this into a farce,’ Brax warned.

‘Yeah,’ the Master said insincerely. ‘Well, I’d better be off. I’m done here. Fateless boy delivered, safe and sound. Have fun.’

He turned to leave.

‘Is that it?’

The Master sighed, and turned back. ‘What?’

‘Everything you two did together,’ Brax began. ‘Playing in the fields on Gallifrey. Learning to be Time Lords together. Forever fighting. You two were so entwined in each other’s lives. He’s never coming back, and all you can say is “have fun”?’

The Master smirked. ‘What should I be doing? Crying? Boohoo. He’s dead. How sad.’

‘You should at least be feeling something.’

‘I can’t really be bothered to feel.’

Brax lowered his eyebrows, gazing at the Master. ‘You are right, of course,’ he said. ‘My little brother is gone, and all you can’t even muster the energy to pretend like you care. You’re dead inside, Koschei. Thank you for bringing Alex back, but if you come anywhere near his family or friends ever again, I’ll be waiting.’

‘Is that a threat?’

‘It is advice,’ Brax countered. ‘If I ever see your face again …’ He trailed off, not needing to finish. 

The Master smiled. ‘Oh, you’ll see me again. I’m from the future, don’t forget.’

Brax paused, clearly working it out. ‘... You knew. You knew Thete would do this.’

‘Of course I did,’ the Master said, laughing. ‘Did I sound surprised when you told me? I’ve been working on my acting skills. Love those classes humans do. I’m so great at pretending to be a swaying tree, now.’ He leant forward, grinning. ‘I know exactly what happens next. If you let me watch you tell the blonde her son’s gotta go, I might even tell you.’

Brax looked completely disgusted. ‘Get out, and never come back.’

‘Oh, I’ve heard that before from your dead brother. It never lasts. I’ll be popping up again soon enough, don’t you worry.’

And with that, he left.

* * *

After the shock had time to settle, Jack and Zak stayed with Rose and the kids as Brax called a meeting of everyone else in Torchwood. Jackie, Martha, Mickey, Ianto, Seth, Gwen, Rhys, and even Sarah Jane had managed to make it from Wales. They all gathered in the sitting area, with cups of tea and biscuits, though no one felt much like snacking.

‘He’s not  _ really  _ dead, but he is, in a way,’ Brax had to explain to the rest of Torchwood, trying to remain stoic and clinical about it, despite the fact everyone was struggling not to cry. ‘The lergri were trapped inside his head. The only way to stop them taking over was to destroy the gate, which was the Doctor. The Doctor took Seth’s grenade, and jumped into the rift. It then sealed itself.’

‘But Rose said he’s still alive,’ Jackie said anxiously. ‘The bond thing still works. He’s not dead, is he?’

Brax swallowed. ‘If he’s not dead, then there’s absolutely no doubt that the lergri, to protect themselves, would have frozen time to stop it detonating. Somewhere inside the rift, the Doctor is frozen in time, just before the grenade explodes. He’s stuck, frozen in mid-fall.’

‘But that means we can get him out,’ Martha said. ‘We’ve got equipment. We can open the rift.’

‘If we were to open the rift, the lergri may not be able to keep the grenade suspended. It would detonate, and he would die. That’s the kind of death you don’t regenerate from.’

‘So he’s stuck,’ Martha muttered.

‘Yes.’

‘Is he … can he feel anything?’ Jackie asked, tearful.

‘I don’t know,’ Brax said. ‘It depends how the lergri have frozen time. He’s either completely frozen, or he’s only frozen in body. He may still be conscious. I just don’t know.’

‘So he could be thinking, right now,’ Seth said, wide-eyed.

‘Perhaps,’ Brax murmured. ‘But there is nothing we can do to help, or speak to him. He may be able to hear his family’s thoughts, but he also may not. However, I would not tell them that.’

‘Why not?’ Martha asked.

‘Because he is never coming back. For all intents and purposes, he is dead. All of us, especially Rose and the tots, need to come to terms with that. The idea that he could still be hearing them is not going to help them in the grieving process. It is only a notion, after all, not a fact. Even if he can hear them, let them think freely.’

'What do we do?’ Gwen asked.

'We need to make sure that Rose and the kids know we’re ‘ere for them, and we aren't goin’ anywhere,’ Jackie stated.

'We should make sure there's always someone there for them to talk to,’ Martha agreed.

'When we talk about him we … need to use the word “dead”,’ Brax said, almost hesitantly. 'I'm sorry.’

Sarah rested a hand on Brax’s shoulder. 'It's okay. We're all hurting, but we need to do what's best for Rose and the children. Rose has lost her husband and the children have lost their father. We need to think rationally and help them as best we can. If calling him dead helps them, then that’s what we’ll do.’

As his brother’s friends began to confer about how they were going to help Rose, Brax surreptitiously slipped away. He wasn’t emotive by any means, but even he was struggling not to cry. He needed to focus on something else. He went into the TARDIS, wrapping the cloth he had around his head so his appearance wouldn’t startle the kids if he met them, and walked unmet into the infirmary. He located the dermal regenerator, and worked for two solid hours on his face.

Jack appeared halfway through, obviously coming in the infirmary to get something, when he saw Brax. He vaguely waved, and moved to him.

‘How are Rose and the tots?’ Brax asked.

‘Not great,’ Jack said. ‘Rose is trying to think how she can save him.’

‘Grief,’ Brax muttered. ‘First stage, denial. Give her some time.’

Jack sighed. ‘I know. But ... the kids can’t understand. They … They keep asking when he’s coming back. I don’t think they understand that he can be dead and not regenerate. Leah keeps showing me this book where she’s written down everything about regenerating and she’s asking me to give it to the Doctor, just in case he forgot how.’

They both silenced for a moment.

‘Looking better,’ Jack said to him, gesturing vaguely at Brax’s face to change the subject. ‘You’re getting your ear back.’

‘Good. I don’t want to scare the children,’ Brax replied.

‘What the hell happened to you?’ Jack asked seriously. ‘You said Toby, but what did he do?’

Brax winced at that. ‘I don’t remember.’

‘You don’t remember?’

‘The last thing I remember before getting back here is walking into the Tardis library,’ Brax replied. ‘I just know it was Toby, and I know he was laughing. He just kept laughing.’

‘Jesus,’ Jack murmured. ‘You were in the library and your memory just stops?’

‘I wanted to research to see if Thete and Rose could have a baby without him being in so much pain. I … well, I suppose it doesn’t matter now. But I walked in, and everything stops there.’

Jacl’s eyes widened. ‘That means Toby might have access to the Tardis. Maybe he made the Tardis land in London.’

‘Thought of that,’ Brax said. ‘As soon as we got back I scanned everything. Any device for transmatting or teleportation of any kind I destroyed. He has absolutely no route in now, apart from through the front door. This place is impenetrable.’

‘As long as he can’t get at Rose or the kids,’ Jack said firmly.

‘He is not going anywhere  _ near  _ Thete’s family. I’m just glad he took me and not any of them.’

Jack looked at Brax’s face again. The dermal regenerator had lessened the scar tissue significantly, but it was still there. He dreaded to think what Toby had done that Brax couldn’t remember. He then felt quite sick at the idea of that being subjected to Rose or the children. He tried to move on his thoughts. ‘How did you know those aliens were assassins?’

‘I recognised them. The rest wasn’t hard to work out,’ Brax confessed.

They silenced again.

‘This is so wrong,’ Jack finally said.

‘I know.’

‘I keep thinking he’s gonna jump out at any second like on Candid Camera.’

‘What?’ Brax asked, confused.

Jack shook his head. ‘Never mind. Just … I don’t believe it. Even though I saw it.’

‘First stage …’

‘Denial,’ Jack completed. ‘Yeah, I’ve got that too.’

They paused, looking at each other. Suddenly, Jack laughed.

‘Look at us,’ he said at Brax’s confused expression. ‘If he could see us now … He’d have that little self-satisfied grin he used to use.’

Brax smiled a little. ‘The one he had when his ego was petted?’

Jack nodded, smirking. ‘Yeah. Geez, he could be a bit full of himself, let’s be honest. Though fair play, there wasn’t a lot he couldn’t do.’

‘He couldn’t do the Prydon Academy anthem, you know.’

‘That’s his school, right? It had an anthem?’

‘Yes. Every chapter academy had their own anthem. He used to mumble when they had to sing it. When he was a kid he used to say learning it would take up valuable brain space.’

Jack laughed again. ‘Oh, that sounds like him. What  _ does  _ the Prydon Academy anthem go like?’

Brax smiled, and place a hand to his chest, closing his eyes and singing in a faked pride. ‘Iloo ce’Wipa’Cadon, kra’ce’chi-iaref’aleo-gea tiri! Wi-kahsi! Wi-kaiya! Tira’kra’wi-kire, Prydon’Aleo-gea! Kai’afa ce’ejeal-ia ja praka’afa! Kra ilo’ce’wi-hi’Cadon, kai’oela’time, kai’oela’ger! Kai …’

He had to stop as Jack was laughing so much. ‘Oh wow,’ Jack managed. ‘What does that mean?’

‘Oh, something about being under Mount Cadon and everyone being rather clever. I barely touched the surface. There is around fifty-eight more verses of that.’

‘He was right, that  _ does  _ take up valuable brain space,’ Jack said, still laughing. Brax laughed too. Eventually they sobered, and an awkward silence took over.

‘I’ll get back to Rose,’ Jack eventually said. ‘You do look a lot better, you know. Leah and Alex would love to see you.’

Brax winced a little at the mention of Alex. He knew the matter couldn’t wait.

‘What?’ Jack asked, frowning at his expression.

‘I … need to talk to Rose,’ Brax said. ‘It’s about Alex.’

‘What?’

Brax considered him. This wasn’t going to be easy. Then, he told Jack what they had to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation:  
> Iloo ce’Wipa’Cadon, kra’ce’chi-iaref’aleo-gea tiri! Wi-kahsi! Wi-kaiya! Tira’kra’wi-kire, Prydon’Aleo-gea! Kai’afa ce’ejeal-ia ja praka’afa! Kra ilo’ce’wi-hi’Cadon, kai’oela’time, kai’oela’ger! Kai ... - ‘Neath the Cadon Mountain is the oldest school of all! So beautiful! So bright! Always to stand so proudly, Prydon Academy! We are the students who make it so! Standing underneath mighty Cadon, we learn time, we learn everything! We ...


	20. Closure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five months later, Rose is in mourning. Planet Earth is rebuilding itself, and realise how badly they treated the man that saved them. Torchwood hold a funeral for the Doctor.

**Five months later**

_ ‘The Doctor was grossly misunderstood by the media and a victim of it,’  _ a member of parliament on the television said to the Channel Four reporter.  _ ‘He was a scapegoat for another man’s evil actions and driven away, but he came back to save us. He gave his life to save the human race. We must never forget that. It is only fitting that the Doctor should immediately receive a posthumous pardon and honour.’ _

_ ‘There would be those that say the Doctor, as an alien, was not officially recognised as a citizen of Earth, and therefore cannot be honoured,’  _ the reporter countered. _ ‘Wouldn’t it seem strange to some people that a new order of chivalry has been created just for aliens?’ _

_ ‘Not at all,’ _ the MP replied. _ ‘As you so fairly pointed out, John, the Doctor is not an official citizen of the Earth, but the Doctor made his home here on Earth. He had connections across planet Earth, but in particular, here in the UK for many years. Therefore the Queen has personally bent the rules and created a new chivalry for him, and those like him. We think he deserves no less. How we treated him can never be undone, but we can at least honour his ultimate sacrifice. We honour those from other countries, so why not other planets?’  _

Rose looked down from the TV to the letter in her hand. Jack had gone to pick it up only that morning. It was addressed to her, but it was about the Doctor. Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Most Gallant, and a unique, one-of-a-kind medal to go with it. He’d be laughing.

It had been five months since he’d jumped into the rift, and in that time she’d been through most of the stages of grief fairly rapidly and with quite some gusto, and not to mention in perfect order. Denial. That had taken the longest. It had been difficult, because although everyone was talking like he was dead, he actually wasn't. The bond was still there. He was still alive. But Brax had explained it. Any attempt to open it would detonate the grenade and kill him. The Doctor had imposed the ultimate stalemate on the lergri. If she wasn’t so upset, she’d be impressed. 

Eventually, her denial wore off, and she hit stage two. Anger. That had lasted for three weeks. She'd screamed and raged, taking it all out on the people close to her. Anger at them for being unable to do anything. Anger at herself for being angry at them unduly. Anger at the human race for their part in it. Anger at the Doctor, for causing the entire thing, and then even more anger at herself for thinking so bitterly of him when all he'd done was be himself. He’d done exactly what the Doctor always did. But this time, he wasn’t coming back. Being so angry at herself, she’d skipped past the bargaining stage, and moved straight to depression.

Over the past month, she’d began the systematic destruction of her own psyche. Things had turned so bad that she eventually agreed to go and see a UNIT psychiatrist. That had helped a lot, she had to admit. She would have liked medication, but being pregnant was probably for the best, because despite everything good she had in her life, she couldn't promise herself she'd not pop them like Smarties. She knew that during this process she had hardly set a good example for Leah. She tried to hide on her worst days so Leah couldn’t see her breaking down.

Jack had been her rock, like he always was. He and Zak had played tag team, taking care of her and the children, and they’d done it with a smile. She knew they were grieving too – everyone was – but they never cried in front of her. Jack had even managed to make her laugh. She loved him for that. Even after Zak had left to go back to the Neo Proclamation, Jack still seemed to be exactly where she needed him. The man never seemed to sleep, and he’d never complained.

Everyone else was doing their part too. Brax had clearly tried to fill a certain space left by his brother, by becoming the resident Time Lord and schooling Leah and Kiana. Leah had said it wasn’t quite the same as being schooled by her dad, but she and the Doctor had raised her to be polite. She didn’t make a big deal out of it, at least, not in front of Rose. Rose was sure Leah had talked more to her Uncle Jack about any emotional turmoil she was going through. That made Rose feel like a bad parent, but Jack had talked her around, saying it was more beneficial for Leah to talk to someone freely. That was true. Whenever the topic of the Doctor came up with Rose and Leah, they usually both started crying. Trying to be strong was far too difficult for her at the moment.

Martha had been medically looking after her, checking on the baby often. She’d also been the one to arrange the sessions with the psychiatrist. Jackie was probably the best person to talk to – after all, she had gone through a similar thing with Pete. Sarah Jane had had her own grief to deal with – after the problem in time had been resolved, it had turned out that Harry had only been a temporary resurrection, and had died quite a long time ago. Sarah Jane hadn’t even been able to say goodbye. 

Rose had tried to make an effort for Leah’s fifth birthday, and Leah had had a fun time. But when Leah had taken a breath, made a wish and blew out her candles, that had been the moment Rose realised that this was it. The Doctor was never coming back. Their daughter had turned five, and he hadn’t turned up. She’d had to leave, then. She made an excuse, went to the bathroom, and cried. She’d cried on her daughter’s birthday, sitting on a toilet. She was sure that wasn’t normal.

Everyone else seemed to be accepting his death, at least. People had said that eventually she would come to accept it too. Accept the cold side of the bed. Accept that she was a parent to a fatherless child. Accept that her life had just come to a savage, grinding halt; ripped apart in one split second. Not for the first time, either. When she’d gone to the parallel world, that had felt quite similar to this, except that with that there had always been a slim glimmer of possibility.  _ And  _ she had got to say goodbye. 

This time, nothing. The man she’d made her life for however many years was gone.

She wasn’t an idiot. She’d always known there was a chance this would happen, but she never actually thought it would. There had been some close calls over the years, certainly, but this was it. It had really happened. He was gone, and he wasn’t coming back. Ever.

There was a knock on the door, and Brax poked his head around the frame. ‘Rose? How are you?’

‘Yeah,’ she muttered, putting the letter and medal aside and quickly channel-hopping. 

He offered her a smile. ‘I’m so sorry, to bring this up, but have you thought about what I said?’

She swallowed, trying not to cry again. ‘Yeah. I … I agree. We should have a funeral.’

‘You don’t have to,’ Brax stressed. ‘If you are not ready, we will not do it.’

‘No, it’s okay. Everyone needs closure. I can’t keep holdin’ it up. It’s not fair.’

Brax gazed at her. ‘Are you sure?’

She nodded, and forced a smile. ‘Yeah. D’you want me to do anythin’?’

‘No, we’ll sort everything out,’ he said. ‘I thought Leah might like to learn the Gallifreyan burial rites, if she’s okay with attending, of course.’

Rose could feel her eyes welling, so she looked away. ‘Yeah. She’d like that.’

‘Do you need anything?’ Brax asked.

‘No.’

‘Okay. Just call us.’

* * *

‘How are you doing?’ Jack asked the little girl as he entered her room. She was sitting on the floor playing with some toys.

‘Okay, she replied.

He sat down next to her. ‘Hey, wanted a chat.’

‘Yeah?’

‘It’s about Daddy.’

Leah nodded. She seemed to fluctuate between getting overwhelmingly upset and being fairly nonchalant. ‘Yeah?’

‘We’re going to have a funeral for him.’

‘Like the one we had for the Time Lady?’

‘Yeah, just like that,’ he said. ‘Would you like to come? You don’t have to if you don’t want to.’

Leah looked at him. ‘Um, I’ll come.’

‘Sure?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Okay. Uncle Brax wondered if you’d like to learn the Gallifreyan burial rites and recite them at the funeral?’

‘Is that that thing Uncle Brax and Daddy said at the Time Lady’s funeral?’

‘Yeah, it is.’

‘Okay.’

‘You want to?’

‘Yeah.’

Jack nodded. ‘We’re having it tomorrow. Let’s pick out a dress together.’

* * *

Without a body, they couldn’t do a gallifreyan burial. So instead, everyone went to Emphasia, near to where they’d had a funeral for the dead Time Lady just a few months previously. They picked a particularly beautiful spot, and Brax dug a small hole. Rose watched, heartbroken, as Leah stepped forward holding the only material piece of him they had left – his glasses, which he’d left behind – and placed them in the hole. Brax obligingly added a seed of a flower, and covered it all up with mud.

'N-cera'qe-ia'zachit-ia ici ce'chira,’ Brax began, and looked at Leah.

'N-cera'qe-ia'lola-ia ye wi-alok'mira,' she said on cue.

'N-cera'qe-ia'gricha-ia terna iviran'kyea.’

'N-cera'qe-ia'veera-gea ici ce wi-aiiw'wrea.'

'N-qe, ei'baniora, ei arit aroinab-n.'

'N-miho ce'celerial-ia'kaiti joh kai cen hira,' Leah finished, tears running down her little face. She ran back to her mum and Uncle Jack, hugging them both. Rose cried freely too, choking on her own tears as she held her daughter tightly in return.

After everyone else had left to let the family say their goodbyes in private, Jack and Jackie stayed with them. Hand in hand, Rose and Leah stepped up to the small grave. 

‘Bye bye, Daddy,’ Leah said sadly. ‘You were my favourite person in the whole universe, mmkay? I miss you real bad. I love you.’

She ran over to her gran, hugging her, leaving Rose standing in front of the tiny grave in silence.

‘Say something,’ Jack encouraged. ‘Talk to him.’

‘What’s the point?’ Rose asked, her voice cracking. ‘He can’t hear me.’

‘Dunno about that,’ Jack said. ‘They say the dead can hear your thoughts.’

Rose sighed, looking at him. ‘Seriously?’ she asked facetiously.

‘Just do it,’ Jack insisted. ‘It’ll help.’

Rose sighed again, closed her eyes, and began, ‘okay. Um, oh God. I … I know you’ve been gone for five months, but it feels like forever. I hurt, so bad. I miss you so much that it hurts every little bit of me. It’s like this constant achin’ in my soul, weighin’ me down. I just wanna talk to you. I’d do anythin’ so I could talk to you again. I just wanna see your smile, even if it’s just for one last time. I just can’t stop thinkin’ about you, I can't switch off. My heart feels like it’s made of glass, and all the time I’m tryin’ so hard to stop it breakin’. I’m so tired from fightin’ that.

‘I just want this to stop but I can’t make it stop. And the worst part is I know you’re not even dead. You don’t have a body I can touch or see. The bond’s still there, but you’re not, and I just … I can’t cope with that. Everything’s just gone so wrong. I was so happy, and now I’m so,  _ so  _ sad. I gave you everythin’ I had and now it’s like a huge part of me has gone. I’m never gonna stop lovin’ you. And I know exactly what you’d be sayin’ right now. You’d be sayin’ to forget about you, move on, live my life. But I can’t, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to. You were … you were my everythin’, and now I’m nothin’. Right now, I’m dead too. I … I love you so much. I … can’t do this without you. Please,  _ please  _ come back.’

She paused, and cried again. Jack hugged her.

After she managed to regain some control, her hand moved to her belly. ‘I’m … I’m gonna name him after you. Theo. Like Theta. I hope that’s okay with you.’

She finished. Jack hugged her tighter. 

‘He’d love it, I’m sure,’ Jack said.

She just cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translation:  
> All those thunders in the sun  
> All those moments of painful fun  
> All those poems with empty verse  
> All those flights in a tiny universe  
> That, I remember, and I will never forget  
> How the stars shined when we first met


	21. Five Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five hours can sometimes seem like quite a lot longer.

The Doctor woke up with a piercing headache.

He moaned, furrowing his brow and shifting on whatever he was lying on, which turned out to be concrete when he opened his eyes.

He found himself lying in some alley, but it was one he vaguely recognised. Drab buildings towered over him with the remnants of ‘Vote Saxon’ posters on the walls, and the smell of an unemptied rubbish tip near him was slightly overpowering. He coughed, daring to sit up as he winced badly, holding his head. It was a very particular headache. A kind of time-travel-without-a-capsule headache.

He felt sick beyond belief, and the over encumbered bin only amplified that. There wasn’t enough room in the bin to try and aim the ensuing vomiting in that direction, so he tried to do it near it. He was vaguely successful. 

Once he’d vomited all he could manage, he straightened up, wiping his forehead with a clean sleeve; he was sweating quite badly and feeling quite faint. This could only be Rose’s pregnancy. That was odd. He didn’t usually start feeling the symptoms until a few weeks had gone.

He got the crick out of his neck, and rested a hand on his chest. Immediately his palm felt like it had been stung. He cried out and looked, and found in the centre of his palm was some kind of blue, vertical line, like an exposed vein on entirely the wrong place. He experimentally touched it, and winced badly. It hurt. A lot.

Confused, he raised his palm up to try and get some light on it. Suddenly that bullet-train-in-the-head feeling smashed into him, and he screamed, collapsing to his knees ...

* * *

_ He was seeing through his own eyes, finding himself inside Torchwood Tate. Rose was in front of him, holding a gun. ‘Whatever you are, taking his form, you’re not foolin’ me! Get out right now or I’ll shoot you dead, I swear to God!’ Rose screamed at him. _

_ Her hands were shaking, her finger on the trigger, ready to pull. The Doctor, to his horror, decided she was actually capable of shooting him. _

_ ‘No,’ the Doctor said quickly. ‘I understand, you’re confused, you thought I was dead. For all you know I’m something else, but no matter what you think I am, please, please stop pointing a gun at me.’ _

_ ‘Yeah, you’d like that wouldn’t you!?’ _

_ ‘Just let me talk.’ _

_ ‘I ain’t givin’ you the chance to do any of that mind control stuff!’ she screamed, and pulled the trigger.  _

* * *

The Doctor panted as the vision disappeared as quickly as it had come. His head throbbed particularly badly for a moment, before the headache finally receded. He dared to open his eyes. He was back in the alleyway, lying on the ground. 

Astonished, he looked at his palm again and realised that whatever this mark was, it was something to do with the lergri. Panicking, he checked himself. They didn’t feel like they were inside him. Some sort of connection?

Why would it be giving him such a negative vision? Trying to scare him, probably. He had to get back to the TARDIS and scan himself, to see if this was serious.

He struggled upright. No one had seemed to have noticed him. Then again, the humans were most likely still in hiding and news of the defeat of the assassins probably hadn’t reached them yet. He checked his time sense to confirm his thought – it was a little askew, but it seemed to indicate he’d been away for five hours. Just enough time to get back to Torchwood before the humans started noticing him. 

He wondered if Rose and the others had even got back from the headquarters, yet. Everyone probably thought he was stuck in the rift; Brax would have explained it. That made him feel a bit bad. But if they weren’t back yet, he could be sitting in the chair waiting for them. That’d look impressive.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he started heading back to Torchwood.

* * *

The Doctor walked through London, taking the more covered routes. He didn’t fancy trying to engage with any humans. He felt too sick to sweet talk his way out of being lynched. 

It took him twenty minutes to get back to Torchwood Tate. He entered the base, but all was silent. The TARDIS was parked inside, the door slightly ajar. He could hear voices. Then, the door opened a little, and out stepped Rose.

It was like a breath of fresh air, seeing her there. But it shocked him slightly to see that her belly was huge. If he didn’t know any better, and he didn’t, he’d estimate she was at about five months. How exactly had her pregnancy advanced so quickly?

Before he could think about that, she looked up, and saw him. She stilled, shocked.

He waved. ‘Hello.’

She just stared at him. The Doctor felt somewhat unnerved by that.

‘Rose?’ he tried. ‘You okay?’

She continued to stare at him.

‘Rose?’ the Doctor asked again, frowning.

‘No,’ she said, swallowing. ‘No, no, no.’

‘No what?’

‘No! Stop it!’ she shouted. She looked terrified. ‘I can’t! Stop doing this!’

‘Doing what?’

‘You’re not real!’

The Doctor began to feel even sicker than he already was. ‘No, wait. Rose ...’

‘Stop it!’ she yelled. ‘I can’t take this!’

‘Rose!’ the Doctor said, hands in the air. ‘It’s me, I promise it’s me! I’m real, see?’ He poked his own body with his finger. ‘Solid! Real!’

‘Hallucinations can be solid!’ she yelled. ‘Even if you’re not that you’re still somethin’ that’s tryin’ to look like him and I’m not fallin’ for it!’

She picked up a gun from the nearby desk and pointed it straight at him. He seriously started to panic.

‘Rose, c’mon. Please. Calm down,’ he said quickly.

‘Whatever you are, taking his form, you’re not foolin’ me! Get out right now or I’ll shoot you dead, I swear to God!’ Rose screamed at him. Just like in the vision, her hands were shaking, her finger on the trigger, ready to pull. The Doctor, to his horror, realised that the vision was about to play out exactly as he’d seen it.

‘No,’ the Doctor said quickly. ‘I understand, you’re confused, you thought I was dead. For all you know I’m something else, but no matter what you think I am, please, please stop pointing a gun at me.’

‘Yeah, you’d like that wouldn’t you!?’

‘Just let me say …’

‘I ain’t givin’ you the chance to do any of that mind control stuff!’ she screamed. Just like in the vision, her finger moved slightly. The Doctor took the initiative and dived to the side. Half a second later she pulled the trigger. Just like the vision, there was a huge bang as the bullet exploded out at an awkward angle right where he’d been standing, and Rose stumbled backwards, the gun’s recoil causing it to fly out of her hand. The bullet ricocheted and planted itself somewhere away from them as she yelped in pain, holding her arm.

The Doctor had cried out too, because although he'd moved, he hadn't moved quickly enough. The bullet had just caught his arm, ripping his clothes, and now he was bleeding. Rose had just tried to _ kill him. _

‘Rose!’ the Doctor yelled, utterly mortified as he held his bleeding arm. ‘Stop!’

Rose went for the gun again. The Doctor dived and grabbed a hold of it before she could. He rolled to the side and jumped up again, gun in hand. Instantly, she looked terrified. He quickly put on the safety and threw it across the room.

‘No gun, see? Not interested,’ he told her, trying to be calming. 

‘Yeah, things like you don’t need guns!’ she yelled, tears in her eyes.

'Rose, please,’ he begged. 'I don't know what's going on, but I … Oh.’ He stopped, realising with a pang of horror. ‘It’s been five months. It’s been five months since I threw myself into the rift.’

Rose was crying. He moved forward to hug her, but she jumped away. ‘I’m not fallin’ for it!’

‘Rose, oh, Rose,’ he muttered, horrified. ‘I'm sorry, I’m so sorry I did this to you, but I wasn't expecting to come back, especially not so late. Please. Look into my eyes; check the bond. It's me. Please, just touch me. You’ll feel it. It’s me. You'll feel your arm tingling.’

She hesitated.

‘I’m not going to hurt you. I’d never hurt you,’ he said softly, fixing her with a gaze.

She stared at him, teary-eyed. She then swallowed and reached up, hesitantly, and pressed a hand to his chest where his left heart was going at double-speed. He felt that odd little spark of electricity that only came when they touched. 

She must’ve felt it too, as she gasped, pulling back as though he’d burnt her. ‘Oh my god.’

He smiled. ‘Let me try again. Hello.’

She was still staring at him. ‘It’s really you,’ she croaked.

‘Yeah,’ the Doctor said. ‘It's really me.’

‘Oh my god,’ she said again. ‘Oh god, oh god, I’m so sorry …’

‘Rose, it’s okay.’

‘I shot at you!’

‘Rose, seeing dead people is going to make anyone a bit jumpy,’ he told her. ‘I'm fine. I understand. I should've given you some warning. I didn't know it had been so long.’

She reached up to his arm. It had quickly clotted. ‘Oh my god,’ she said again. 'I hurt you …’

‘I'm fine, it's just a graze,’ he insisted.

'I nearly killed you!’

‘Rose, you didn't, you're a terrible shot,’ he said jokingly.

'But …’

'I don't want to hear anymore about it,’ the Doctor told her firmly, and kissed her. ‘For the third time, hello.’

She was still crying, but now she was smiling. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. ‘Hello.’

‘Rose?’ a voice called, and Jack and Brax appeared out of the TARDIS, clearly having heard the shot. ‘What –’

They stopped dead, staring at the Doctor. Jack immediately pulled out his gun.

‘Can everyone stop pointing guns at me?’ the Doctor complained.

‘What the fuck are you!?’ Jack snapped. ‘Rose, get behind me right now!’

‘No, it’s okay!’ she said quickly, not letting go of the Doctor. ‘It’s him!’

Jack blinked. ‘Um, what?’

She smothered herself in the Doctor again. ‘The bond, the bond is there.’

‘Thete?’ Brax asked. He looked a lot better, the Doctor noted. His scar tissue was only slightly visible, and his hair had grown back. His ear almost looked genuine. ‘That’s you?’

‘Yep,’ the Doctor replied, not letting go of Rose. 

‘Jesus Christ,’ Jack muttered, lowering his gun.

Brax hadn't even blinked. But as per usual with him, he launched into the practicalities. ‘Come on, we'd best get you hidden before …’

‘DADDY!’ came a delighted shriek from the TARDIS. Leah dived between Jack’s legs and ran straight to her dad. ‘My wish came true!’

The Doctor stooped to hug her, kissing her. ‘What wish?’

‘On my birthday cake I wished something would make mummy happy and here you are!’ she said, kissing his cheek and holding onto him as tightly as possible. ‘I missed you!’

‘I missed you too,’ the Doctor said, laughing, and then realised, drawing back. ‘Oh, your birthday. I missed your birthday.’

‘That’s okay!’ Leah said happily. ‘I don’t mind!’

‘Nah, I’m making it up to you,’ the Doctor told her firmly, brushing back her hair from her eyes. ‘I’ll do something amazing, promise.’

She beamed at him. A few more of her teeth had fallen out. She looked older than when he’d seen her last, too. He’d missed five months of her life, he realised. Five months was more like an eternity for a four … Not, wait … five-year-old.

‘You’re really hot and sticky, Daddy,’ Leah said.

The Doctor nodded at Rose and her pregnancy. ‘Side effect of that, I’ll be fine once I get some medication.’

‘Okay!’ Leah said. ‘Will you come play with me?’

‘In a bit, I promise.’

‘Okay!’ she said, and skipped back into the TARDIS.

‘This can't be real,’ Jack croaked.

‘Thete, you've got blood on you,’ Brax said, concerned.

‘I'm fine, it's fine,’ the Doctor said quickly as he felt Rose’s grip on him tighten. ‘I just need the pregnancy stuff and some tea.’

* * *

Rose was only convinced to leave the Doctor’s side when he said he was hungry, and she waddled out of the door hastily to get him something. He’d otherwise been hidden from everyone. Anyone attempting to get into the infirmary was redirected, lest they have a heart attack at the sight of him.

Brax administered the pregnancy medication, and after a few minutes the Doctor began to feel much better. As Brax went to set up the scanner, Jack stayed, staring at him. He’d barely said a word.

‘How has it been?’ the Doctor asked.

‘How has it been,’ Jack repeated without a hint of a questioning tone. ‘That’s it? That’s all you’ve got?’

The Doctor stared at him. ‘Jack …’

Jack stood up. The Doctor seriously thought Jack was about to punch him in the face. 

‘Everyone was  _ devastated,’  _ he snapped. ‘You have no  _ idea  _ what you did to Rose. I was on suicide watch for three weeks.’

‘... Suicide?’

‘Yeah, suicide,’ he snapped. ‘Martha had to get her a psychiatrist. She couldn’t take anything cos of her pregnancy, she had nothing to help her. She tore herself apart cos of you.’

‘It's only been a few hours for me,’ the Doctor said. ‘If I’d known it had been so long I definitely wouldn't have just turned up.’

‘Yeah, sure.’

‘I’m sorry, I really am. I never meant for this.’

‘Nah, you just die for five months then turn up like nothing ever happened.’

The Doctor sat up, staring at him. He understood. The man who couldn’t die, struggling to cope with someone else apparently resurrecting. ‘I know this is shocking, I really do.’

Jack suddenly looked like he was about to cry. ‘I mourned you. I cried for you. Then you just fucking turn up again.’ He really  _ was  _ crying now. 

‘You’ve processed my death and said goodbye,’ the Doctor said. ‘You don’t know how to cope with this. I understand. I’ve been through it. I know how angry you are. Please, hit me if it’ll make you feel better.’

Jack stepped forward. The Doctor stiffened slightly. He hadn’t thought he’d actually take him up on it. He braced himself, but Jack didn’t lift his arm.

‘God, I hate you,’ he said bitterly. ‘I fucking hate what you did to us.’

‘I know, and I’m sorry,’ the Doctor insisted.

‘If you ever do that again, I’ll kill you.’

‘I know.’

‘I’m gonna hit you, now,’ Jack warned.

‘Ah, okay. Where?’

‘Where d’you want it?’

‘I don’t mind.’

‘I kinda want the face,’ Jack admitted.

‘How about my jaw?’ the Doctor proposed, pointing at his jaw.

‘You okay with that?’

‘Yep, that’s fine. Want me to fall over?’

‘Kind of, yeah, actually.’

‘I’ll yell, too,’ the Doctor added.

‘That’d be good. Thanks.’

‘You’re welcome. Ready?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Give me a count,’ the Doctor said.

‘Sure. On three. One, two, three!’

Jack launched his fist, slamming it into the Doctor’s jaw with quite some force. The Doctor obediently yelled and collapsed to the floor, holding his face. 

‘Thanks,’ Jack said, offering the Doctor a hand up.

‘You’re welcome,’ the Doctor moaned out.

‘You okay?’

‘Fine,’ he said, straightening up.

‘Sorry.’

‘That’s okay,’ the Doctor assured him, massaging his jaw. Then he laughed.

‘What?’ Jack asked, bewildered.

‘I just had a flashback to when we were on that ship with Spleen and you refused to hit me.’

Jack smirked. ‘Strange how times change.’

The Doctor held out a hand to him. ‘We  _ are _ still friends, right?’

‘Of course we are,’ Jack told him, and took his hand. He then pulled the Doctor forwards into a hug, briefly snogging him. The Doctor protested, squirming, before Jack pulled back, and kissed his forehead.

The Doctor wiped at his mouth as Brax returned. 

Brax frowned. ‘What are you two doing?’

‘Nothing,’ Jack replied, smiling and slapping the Doctor heartily on the back. The Doctor winced. ‘I’d better check Leah. See you later.’

He left, leaving Brax and the Doctor together.

‘So how did you get back?’ Brax asked him, checking the bullet graze.

‘I don’t know,’ the Doctor confessed. ‘I can’t remember.’

‘You don’t remember being in the rift?’

‘Not really. I remember jumping into the rift, then I was falling. After that I woke up in an alleyway.’

‘I think you were probably suspended in time completely,’ Brax said, now checking the wounds on his face and chest. ‘These haven’t healed, meaning your body hasn’t aged. I wonder how you got out?’

The Doctor shrugged. ‘I think they must’ve realised that having me frozen in the rift meant they couldn’t get through, so they realised they had to let me go and kicked me out.’ He held up his palm where the blue line was. Brax took his hand, examining it. ‘When I woke up I had this. Then I think it made me have a vision.’

‘What kind of vision?’

‘A future vision,’ the Doctor replied. ‘I saw Rose shoot me when I came into Torchwood, and she did.’

Brax mused on that. ‘It certainly sounds like the lergri. Using the power of potential future visions. Whatever’s happened should turn up in the scan.’

The Doctor nodded. ‘Make it quick, because I don’t particularly fancy having another one.’


	22. Goodbye, Alex Tyler

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone comes to terms with the Doctor’s apparent resurrection. One person, the Doctor realises, is missing.

‘So what happened to you?’ the Doctor wondered as he and Brax waited for the results of the scan. ‘You disappeared.’

‘I don’t really know,’ Brax confessed. ‘I remember walking into the library, then after that it’s a haze. I know it was Toby, though.’

‘Toby?’ the Doctor echoed, worried. ‘He was … in the Tardis?’

Brax raised a hand quickly. ‘I have completely locked this place down. If he was inside, there is no way he’s getting back in now. The Tardis will repel any teleport attempts and trap that person in a temporary prison. Anything that was capable of transmatting or teleporting I’ve destroyed. The only way he can get in now is through the front door, and I’ve told everyone to make sure it stays shut. I’ve upgraded the security on the door so the Tardis will go haywire if someone she doesn’t recognise is trying to get in.

‘How did he get in in the first place?’ the Doctor asked. ‘He could have only got in here by sneaking in somehow, or …’

‘Or?’ Brax echoed.

‘Or … if someone in here was helping him,’ the Doctor finished.

‘I’m sure that’s not the case,’ Brax said, dismissing the notion. ‘He most likely walked in while we were distracted at some point. That door’s always open.’

The scanner beeped an alert. Brax caught the printout, and checked. ‘Some contusions and lacerations, couple of mostly-healed fractures … did someone beat you up?’

‘Humans,’ the Doctor replied. ‘They don’t really like me anymore.’

‘Oh, they think you’re dead,’ Jack said, walking into the room with Rose, who was holding some sandwiches. 

‘Ah, good,’ the Doctor said and Rose sat down next to him and gave him the plate. ‘Let them think that.’

‘In fact, you’re an international hero,’ Jack explained. ‘Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Most Gallant.’

‘Really?’ the Doctor asked, winded slightly.

‘Rose has got the medal.’

Rose reached into her pocket and pulled out a medal. She gave it to him, grinning. 

He looked bewildered. ‘But …’

‘Sir!’ Jack joked, snapping a salute.

‘Theta …’ Brax said suddenly, looking at the printout.

His tone was enough to shut them up. ‘What?’ the Doctor asked, picking up a sandwich.

‘There are traces of a time-sensitive being within you,’ Brax said. ‘I think it’s one of the lergri, still inside you.’

‘Thought as much,’ the Doctor moaned, looking at the blue mark on his palm.

‘Can we get rid of it?’ Rose asked anxiously, a hand on her husband’s bare chest over his right heart.

Brax shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. The scan seems to indicate it’s buried itself among Thete’s chrono cortex.’

‘The what?’ Jack asked.

‘The time sensitive part of my brain,’ the Doctor supplied, and looked at Brax. ‘Anything to suppress it?’

‘Not that I can think of.’

‘You mean he’s got one of those things inside him and he can’t get it out?’ Jack asked.

‘Sorry, but yes,’ Brax said.

‘Is it doing anything to him?’ Rose wondered.

‘Not that I can see,’ Brax said, checking the scan again. ‘It seems to have just made a home for itself benignly, bar these future visions.’ 

‘Future visions?’ Rose asked.

The Doctor looked at her. ‘Do you remember when we were fighting the lergri in my head and they gave us potential future visions?’ he asked through a mouthful of sandwich.

Rose shuddered slightly at the memory. ‘Yeah ...’

‘Well, after I woke up in the alleyway, I had a vision that you would shoot me when I came back to Torchwood, and you did.’

‘Oh,’ Rose muttered, hugging him a little tighter.

‘Either the lergri is giving that to you for a reason, or it’s just a side effect,’ Brax said. ‘Did your actions have any effect on the outcome?’

‘Knowing she would shoot me let me dive to the side. If I hadn’t dived, who knows,’ the Doctor said.

Rose held him even tighter. She was about to cry.

‘It’s fine, honest,’ the Doctor told her.

‘So … this lergri potentially saved your life,’ Jack surmised.

‘It makes sense,’ Brax said. ‘They can’t get through to the real world without you. So now they’ve got to keep you safe and alive until they can try again.’

They all looked at each other in the ensuing pause.

‘For now, the lergri is being helpful,’ Brax said eventually. ‘That’s all we know.’

‘Why is it in him?’ Jack wondered.

‘Maintaining some sort of connection, I assume,’ Brax said. ‘They need him, but most importantly, they need him alive. That’s the bit we should focus on. He’s in absolutely no danger so long as this single lergri is inside of him.’ Brax moved to the Doctor and took his afflicted hand, examining it. He tentatively pressed the scar. The Doctor winced badly.

‘Hey,’ Rose protested, taking back her husband’s hand.

‘Sorry. We need to keep this protected, clearly,’ Brax said, and disappeared to get the supplies.

‘Oh god,’ Rose moaned, still clinging onto him. 

‘It’s fine,’ the Doctor said. ‘As long as there’s only the one, it’s doing me a favour. They’re not going to kill me. They might even be protecting me.’

‘They’re just waitin’ for a chance to come in,’ Rose said nervously.

‘I don’t see how,’ the Doctor said, scratching a sideburn. ‘They only got through on a technicality. They’re trapped in there. Unless something opens up the rift again then they can’t get through, even if they do have a link with me.’

‘Are you makin’ that up?’ Rose wondered seriously.

He shrugged. ‘Look, I don’t know,’ he said as Brax returned, with bandages in hand. ‘I’m just guessing. I don’t even know how I got out.’

Brax took his hand, started bandaging it. The Doctor suddenly hissed with pain.

‘Sorry,’ Brax muttered.

Rose took the hand instead. ‘Lemme do that,’ she said. ‘You should go get everyone ready to tell them he’s not dead so they can take it better than … well, better than I did.’

‘Good idea,’ Brax conceded, about to leave, when suddenly Leah came running into the room followed by absolutely everyone else, all staring at the Doctor, shocked.

‘Well, there’s that idea out the window,’ Jack murmured.

‘Oh my  _ god  _ it’s true,’ Jackie gasped as everyone started trying to talk at once, confused and panicked.

‘Everyone, calm down!’ Brax ordered, hands in the air. ‘I was about to tell you. Thete’s alive.’

The ensuing silence wasn’t a healthy one.

‘Um, was I not meant to tell anyone?’ Leah asked, confused.

Jack picked her up and sat her beside her dad. ‘You’re fine,’ he said. ‘No one’s shooting at him. That’s actually progress.’

‘Um, hello,’ the Doctor said to the crowd with a grin, waving with his free hand.

‘How did you …?’ Martha began, but Jackie was already moving forward. She swiftly raised her hand and brought it smashing down across his cheek with quite a crack.

‘Ow!’ the Doctor yelped.

‘You stupid, stupid, stupid …’ she spat out, struggling to talk. ‘You absolute and total motherf–’

‘Jackie!’ the Doctor interrupted, just before she slapped him for the second time, the second crack even louder than the first, ringing in everyone’s ears.

‘You go and you leave my daughter and my grandchild all alone, then you waltz in here grinnin’! Just  _ who  _ do you think you are!?’ Jackie yelled.

‘I’m sorry!’ the Doctor insisted just before she smacked him for a third time, despite him trying to defend himself.

‘Mum!’ Rose interrupted. ‘He’s got the message!’

‘I don’t think ‘e ‘as!’ Jackie cried, and delivered the fourth blow.

‘Jackie! It’s okay!’ Mickey said, holding her arms. Jackie fumed a little, but stepped back. 

The Doctor sighed with relief, holding his face. ‘Sorry,’ he moaned out. ‘I really am.’

‘How did you get out?’ Gwen asked, confused. ‘You were stuck!’

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I honestly don’t know. I woke up in an alleyway a few hours ago. I don’t know what happened. I don’t remember anything.’

‘Have you checked him over?’ Martha asked anxiously.

‘Yes, he’s fine,’ Brax said. ‘Mostly.’

‘Mostly?’ Jackie echoed.

‘Just an issue of having one of the lergri inside him,’ Brax insisted. ‘Look, let me explain, come this way …’

He led everyone out of the door, leaving Rose, Jack, the Doctor and Leah together.

‘Sorry,’ Rose said seriously.

‘That’s okay,’ the Doctor said, still holding his cheek as she finished up bandaging his hand. ‘I deserve it.’

‘He really does,’ Jack agreed.

‘I’m hungry,’ Leah suddenly complained, business as usual.

Jack got up, glancing at Leah’s parents. ‘I’ll get this and check Kiana’s okay.’

‘Thanks,’ Rose said as Jack slipped his hand into Leah’s and left, the little girl waving as they did.

‘Where’s Alex?’ the Doctor asked, checking his freshly bandaged hand.

‘What?’ Rose asked, only half paying attention.

‘Alex. Where is he?’

Rose finally looked at him. ‘Who?’

The Doctor frowned. ‘Alex.’

‘Who’s Alex?’

The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, astounded, when he abruptly realised what had happened. The Doctor’s insides suddenly turned very cold as he realised where Alex was.

‘Oh, sorry, nothing,’ the Doctor said, forcing a smile at Rose. ‘Don’t worry.’ His eyes dropped to her belly. ‘How is he?’ he asked, trying to change the subject.

‘I … named him already,’ she said.

‘What?’

‘Theo,’ she said nervously.

He smiled through the pain inside. ‘I like it.’

‘You do?’ she asked. ‘I wanted to … name him after you.’

‘It’s perfect,’ he insisted. ‘He feels like a Theo.’

‘You can feel him?’

‘Kind of.’

‘What does he feel like?’

He paused, thinking about that. ‘Like a beating heart inside me,’ he said, and rested his hand on her belly. Almost immediately, the baby kicked.

‘Whoa, what was that?’ he asked, pulling his hand away.

Rose laughed. ‘Theo kicked. Didn’t you feel Leah kicking?’

‘No,’ he said, and tentatively rested his hand on her belly once more. Theo kicked again. ‘Oh, that’s weird. That’s not in the human gestation books.’

Rose giggled, and for a moment they both just sat there, the Doctor’s hands on her bump. Theo didn’t kick again.

‘When was your last scan?’ he suddenly asked.

‘Couple of weeks ago,’ Rose told him.

‘Can I do one now?’

‘Sure,’ Rose said, shrugging nonchalantly.

* * *

Five minutes later, they were both looking at the screen as the Doctor did his high-tech alien version of an ultrasound. There was their son. He was curled up, his legs tucked in and his arms over his face so they couldn’t see him.

‘God, he’s huge compared to the last scan,’ Rose told the Doctor.

‘How many weeks are you?’

‘Eighteen, now.’

‘Aww, c’mon Theo, I want to see your face,’ the Doctor complained, lightly poking his wife’s belly. ‘C’mon.’

Theo didn’t seem in the least bit interested, so instead, the Doctor checked the readout. ‘Perfect health, perfect growth rate,’ he said. ‘Just, y’know, perfect.’

She grinned. ‘Of course he is, he’s ours.’

The Doctor smiled. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Fine.’ she said. ‘All I’ve got is the back pain at the moment.’

‘Bad?’

‘Nah.’

‘Let me know if you’re too uncomfortable,’ he said.

‘I’m fine.’

He smiled and checked the screen again. ‘Oh, hello!’ he greeted the boy, who’d moved his arms to reveal his face. It was defined, with a tiny mouth, nose, and little eyelids closed together. He even had light traces of eyebrows.

His hand moved, and touched the umbilical cord. Then he opened his mouth.

‘Is he yawnin’?’ Rose wondered.

‘Yeah,’ the Doctor said. ‘Bet it’s boring in there.’

She giggled, extending her arms to him. He put the scanner away, and embraced her, kissing her. Then, she started to cry.

‘Aww, don’t do that, you’ll set me off,’ the Doctor chastised her.

‘S-sorry,’ she said, sniffing.

‘I’m the one who’s supposed to be doing this. Don’t you remember when you were pregnant with Leah I spent five hours crying over the fact I’d found a hole in one of my socks? Or that time I tried to make some salad for you and Jack came in, said hello, I thought he was being sarcastic and I threw the bowl at him?’

She giggled through the tears. ‘It’s just … I’m just … I’m so h-happy you’re back. I thought … I thought I’d be r-raising him and Leah without a d-dad.’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘Sorry. I’m here to stay. Kind of stubborn in that way.’

She laughed, and held him, pressing her ear against his chest.

‘Are we still going to stay in Torchwood with Jack?’ he asked.

She nodded. ‘If you w-wanna.’

‘I think it’ll be good for us. All of us,’ he clarified, nodding to her belly. 

‘You do realise this m-means we’re gonna have to work for Jack,’ Rose told him, grinning.

‘I’m sure I’ll manage,’ he said. ‘He can always fire me. I’m used to that. I’ve been fired from everywhere.’

She laughed. ‘He wouldn’t dare.’

‘No?’

‘Not when he’s got Wifezilla marchin’ around T-Torchwood,’ she replied, pointing at herself and her bump.

The Doctor laughed. 

She gazed at him. ‘I should be m-mad at you,’ she said. ‘Why aren’t I mad?’

The Doctor shrugged. ‘Cos you shot me?’ 

Rose winced, her face falling. 

He laughed and kissed her. ‘It’s fine, honestly. I completely understand. Just, you know, don’t do it again, please.’

‘Never,’ she said.

* * *

The Doctor did a proper reintroduction to everyone a few hours later, who had managed to collectively calm down. Even Jackie had hugged and kissed him. Others had hugged him and shook his hand. He’d conferred politely with them all, with Rose and Leah clinging to him every step of the way.

After the gathering was over, Leah was left chatting to Seth as the Doctor and Rose went to find Jack. He was holed up in an office, on the phone.

‘I understand,’ he was saying, beckoning them in. ‘Thank you … Yes, thank you … Goodbye.’ He hung up and looked at them. ‘You’ll never believe it.’

‘What?’ Rose asked.

‘Unit has rebuilt Torchwood Three,’ Jack told them. 

‘Seriously?’ Rose wondered.

‘Yeah. I think  _ they  _ think they got you killed so they had to make it up somehow,’ Jack replied, looking at the Doctor.

‘They think I’m dead too?’ the Doctor asked.

‘Yeah. Want me to correct them?’

‘Nah,’ the Doctor replied, waving a hand. ‘I think I should stay dead for as long as possible.’

Jack nodded. ‘Well, this makes things complicated.’

‘Why?’ the Doctor wondered.

‘I like hanging out with you on the Tardis,’ Jack confessed, scratching his head. ‘But I also wanna go back. I’ve got some business I abandoned.’

‘Hold on,’ the Doctor said, propping himself on the desk. ‘So, we’ve now got two free Torchwoods, one in Cardiff, and one in London?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Why not fill them both?’

‘What?’

‘Well, Martha’s got family in London, she’ll probably want to stay here, and Mickey will join her,’ the Doctor explained. ‘I’m sure Gwen and Ianto would rather go back to Torchwood Three, and I’m positive Jackie wants to get a house again.’

Jack thought about that. ‘That could work.’

‘Also,’ the Doctor began. glancing at Rose, who nodded. ‘Can we, er, stay with you?’

Jack looked surprised. ‘What?’

‘We had a chat and we’d like to stay grounded while Theo’s growing,’ the Doctor explained. ‘If you let me park the Tardis in Torchwood, that is.’

‘We thought we could work for you,’ Rose said. 

Jack slowly spread a grin. ‘You want jobs?’

‘Do we need CVs?’ the Doctor asked, smirking.

Jack’s grin persisted. ‘Well technically you’re already employed by Torchwood, you’re just on holiday at the moment. You sure about this?’

The Doctor nodded. ‘Sure.’

‘Well, consider your holiday officially over,’ Jack said, standing up and extending his hand formally. The Doctor took it, and shook it. ‘Welcome to Torchwood.’

* * *

The Doctor posited his idea of multiple Torchwoods to everyone later that night, and they all concurred with it.

‘We’ll still be tight knit, just in different places,’ Jack explained after he’d finished. ‘Call it expansion.’

‘I’ll set up a transmat so we can go-between,’ the Doctor added.

‘I like it,’ Martha said, looking at Mickey, who nodded. ‘It would be better to be closer to my parents, especially now we’ve got Andrew.’

‘We’d like to be back in Cardiff too, now the exile’s over.’ Gwen said, gesturing to Rhys, who had Anwen.

‘Me too,’ Ianto agreed, looking at Jack. 

‘Mum?’ Rose asked, looking at her mother.

‘I miss livin’ in a house,’ Jackie said. ‘I can get one again for me and Tony?’

‘I’ll sort you out, don’t worry,’ Jack said. ‘

‘May I also stay in Torchwood London?’ Brax suddenly asked. Everyone looked at him.

‘You want to stay here?’ the Doctor repeated questioningly.

‘I have a feeling I’ll be more useful,’ Brax confessed, looking at Jack, who nodded knowingly.

‘We’d love the help,’ Martha said, nodding.

‘Can I stay as well?’ Seth wondered. ‘I wanna explore.’

‘Don’t see why not,’ the Doctor said.

‘So that’s settled,’ Jack said. ‘You four stay here,’ he said, looking at Martha, Mickey, Brax and Seth, ‘I’ll get houses for you,’ he looked next to Rhys and Jackie, ‘and me, Yan, Gwen, the Doc and Rose will take Torchwood Cardiff.’

‘We’re staying with Uncle Jack?’ Leah suddenly asked, clinging to her daddy.

‘Yeah,’ the Doctor told her. ‘Just for a bit.’

‘Yay!’ Leah said happily, jumping off the sofa to run and hug her Uncle Jack. Everyone smiled.

‘Well, I think this calls for a party,’ Jack said happily, hugging the little girl. ‘Oh, by the way, I upgraded your sound system,’ he said to the Doctor.

‘Did it really  _ need  _ upgrading?’ the Doctor wondered seriously.

Jack just grinned.

* * *

The Doctor realised the date when they heard some partying outside, and finally registered it was New Year’s Eve as the singing began. As everyone else broke congregated outside to investigate, he retreated to the TARDIS.

Brax was standing in the console room, his arms folded. ‘I’m sorry.’

Immediately the Doctor knew. ‘You remember Alex,’ he realised.

Brax nodded. ‘I’m the failsafe,’ he said. ‘I made sure every trace of Alex is gone from your lives. I got rid of his room, his toys, his clothes, I even burnt diaries.’

‘... Was Rose okay?’

‘Of course she wasn’t,’ Brax replied. ‘It took a lot of convincing. Especially so close to losing you. There was a lot of anger.’

‘I need to see him,’ the Doctor said, moving to the controls.

‘Thete, if you go to Anzen, you’ll forget he ever existed.’

‘I know how it works. I  _ made  _ Anzen,’ the Doctor said, a little annoyed.

‘I want you to think about this.’

‘I want to see him.’

‘He’s happy, he’s safe, he’s protected,’ Brax insisted. ‘If you go and see him, you’ll walk through the memory filters and you won’t remember him.’

‘I know,’ the Doctor said again. ‘But I want to say what I never said to him, and I want to say it properly.’

Brax nodded. ‘I already set the controls for Anzen. Just push the button.’

The Doctor didn’t hesitate. He hit it, and the TARDIS began to churn.

* * *

Leaving Brax in the TARDIS away from the memory filters, the Doctor walked through the gate of the place he’d created from scratch and into the gardens. As he walked, the last memories he had of this place came back to the surface. Numerous fateless children he’d rescued were playing together, happy and healthy in among the beautiful trees and foliage he’d planted himself. He walked up the path into the English countryside-styled manor, and met with the live-in carers he’d acquired.

‘Doctor,’ Jeala realised. ‘They said you were dead.’

‘I’m not very good at dying,’ the Doctor said, smiling smally. ‘Where’s Alex?’

‘He’s in the playroom, I think,’ Jeala replied.

‘Thanks,’ the Doctor said, and walked to the playroom. A few of the earliest children he’d rescued were now teenagers, sitting around having a chat. Different species, different genders; it didn’t matter to them. They’d grown up here, and forever they would stay.

His memories kept coming back in waves. He recalled the last time he’d come here, saving a little human girl from the Time Agency’s slaughter. He briefly wondered where she was, until he reached the playroom and looked inside to see her and Alex playing together.

On the sight of him, Alex jumped up and ran over, hugging his leg. ‘Daddy,’ he said happily.

The Doctor dropped to him, trying not to cry. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked his son.

‘Yeah,’ Alex replied. The Doctor had never seen him look so relaxed and happy. ‘Me ‘n Maddy are playing houses.’

‘Hey, Maddy,’ the Doctor said to the little girl, who smiled and waved back. ‘Can I steal Alex for a moment?’

The little girl nodded, giggling happily. The Doctor took Alex’s hand and led him over to the sitting area, lifting him to sit on the chair.

‘Ever’one said you died,’ Alex said. 

‘Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,’ the Doctor told him, hugging him. ‘I’m sorry I took so long.’

‘S’ok,’ the boy said. ‘You  _ were  _ dead.’

The Doctor couldn’t help but laugh, despite the pain in his hearts. ‘I just … I just wanted to explain to you how this is going to work.’

‘I know how it works, Daddy,’ Alex replied. His speaking was very good. He’d really grown up a lot since the Doctor had last seen him. That hurt a little bit.

‘Did Uncle Brax explain?’

‘Sorta.’

‘I … look, I have to say this. This planet was a planet I created, or rather, appropriated,’ the Doctor began. ‘I made it for … for children like you. Because bad people …’

‘Time Agents,’ Alex told him.

‘Yeah, them,’ the Doctor said, nodding. ‘They want to kill children like you. And I can’t let that happen. This planet is a safe haven. It’s untraceable, only the Tardis has the coordinates, and memory filters are installed so anyone who visits and knows someone here won't remember them or this planet when they go. You can live here without ever being afraid. You can't leave, but I made it so it can be your home forever. All these people here will grow up with you. You won’t have to worry about anything from now on. Do you like it here?’

‘Yeah,’ Alex said happily. ‘But …’

‘But?’ the Doctor echoed, fearful.

'I miss you and mumma and Leah.’

He held his son. 'I know. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry it has to be like this. But we'll come and visit. And anytime you need me for anything, absolutely  _ anything,  _ you get Jeala to contact me. I’ll come.’

‘Okay,’ Alex said. 

‘Is there anything I can do for you?’

Alex nodded. ‘You stay ‘n play houses with us?’

‘Of course I will,’ the Doctor said, kissing him. ‘I’ll stay here for as long as you want.’

* * *

The Doctor was crying as he made his way back to the TARDIS. He’d stayed as his son had requested, playing with him and Maddy. They’d then eaten together, and after a bit more play he’d read Alex to sleep. He’d kissed his son one last time, told him he loved him, made sure his toy Aegyptosaurus was under his arm, and left before his brain could conjure up some mad alternative strategy to deal with this.

He reached the TARDIS, and opened the door. There was Brax, waiting inside.

‘Okay?’ Brax asked.

The Doctor wasn’t too accustomed to crying in front of people, never mind his brother, but he didn’t try to hide it. ‘Promise me, before I step through this door, that you’re going to tell me and Rose to go to Anzen every single month. Make up some reason and ensure we go.’

‘I promise,’ Brax said sincerely.

There was another pause as the Doctor briefly looked back over his shoulder, through the gates to the manor beyond. ‘... I can’t believe this.’

‘I know,’ Brax said.

‘What are you going to tell me?’

‘I’ll think of something,’ Brax assured him.

‘Make it good,’ the Doctor said, and closed his eyes. For a moment, he let himself be flooded by the memories of Alex. ‘Bye, Alex,’ he whispered. Then, with the warm feeling in his hearts, he stepped through the door and closed it behind him.

‘Okay?’ Brax asked.

The Doctor stopped, frowning, and looked at his brother. 'Were we going somewhere?' He realised his face was wet, and wiped at it. 'Why am I crying?'   
  
'No, just testing the Tardis was fine,' Brax said, already programming the TARDIS. 'She seems to be perfectly smooth. And the crying’s probably the pregnancy.'   
  
'Oh,' the Doctor said. 'Back to the party, then?'   
  
'Yes,' Brax confirmed with a smile, and with a clunk and jolt, they left.


	23. Happy New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack throws a final party. The Doctor has another future vision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs are All the Single Ladies by Beyonce, and First Time Ever I saw Your Face by Roberta Flack.

_ 'Cause if you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it! If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it! Don't be mad once you see that he want it! If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it!’  _ the newly upgraded sound system boomed out three hours later, ten minutes before midnight as everyone danced. ‘ _ Oh, oh, oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!’ _

‘Remind me why you’re not drinking again!?’ Jack asked the Doctor over the music, who was sitting next to Rose and Brax on the sofa. 

‘Because Rose is pregnant!’ the Doctor replied.

‘That’s the worst excuse I’ve ever heard!’ Jack shouted back.

‘Sorry!’ the Doctor said, shrugging. 

‘You gotta come and dance!’ Jack told him, and then at Rose. ‘You too!’

‘Gotta be a slow song!’ Rose replied, pointing at her belly.

‘I can sort that!’ Jack said. ‘If I change the song to a  _ really  _ slow one will you two dance?’

Rose looked at the Doctor, who sighed, resigned. She looked back at Jack. ‘Yeah, we will!’

Jack grinned and darted off. The Doctor sighed again and got up, then offered his wife a hand up. He looked at Brax, who smirked, and gestured for his brother to go. The Doctor rolled his eyes and pulled Rose over to where everyone was dancing to All the Single Ladies.

The Doctor sighed for the third time and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, waiting for the song to end. ‘Okay!?’ he yelled in her ear over the music.

‘Yeah!’ she replied.

‘How’s the aching?’

‘What?’

‘How’s the aching!?’ he yelled louder.

‘It’s okay!’

‘Sure!?’

‘Yeah!’

‘Okay!’ he yelled. ‘Just tell me!’

‘I will!’

Finally the song ended, and everyone else struggled to get their breaths back from the erratic dancing. Seconds later, a piano sounded, and the slowest song of the night began to play.

_ ‘The first time ... ever I saw your face, I thought the sun ... rose in your eyes …’  _ the song sang, as everyone assumed slow dance positions.  _ ‘And the moon and the stars ... were the gifts you gave …’ _

The Doctor wrapped his arms even more around her, and she rested his head on his chest, placing her ear between his hearts as they slowly stepped from side to side, swaying with the song.

_ ‘To the dark and the endless skies, my love …’ _

The Doctor watched as Jackie took Brax’s hand and pulled him upright. Brax looked nothing short of terrified as she dragged him to dance. The Doctor snorted with laughter.

_ ‘The first time … ever I kissed your mouth ...’ _

‘What?’ Rose asked him.

‘Your mum is making my brother dance,’ he told her.

‘What? Oh, this I gotta see,’ Rose said. ‘Slow turn.’

He obliged, and the both of them slowly turned with the music so Rose could see Jackie and Brax. The two were mimicking the slow dance posture, but Brax was awkwardly stiff and unresponsive, clearly not knowing what he was supposed to do as Jackie remained entirely enthusiastic about it.

‘ _ I felt the Earth ... move in my hand …’  _ the song continued as Rose giggled and looked up at the Doctor. He grinned.  _ ‘Like the trembling heart … of a captive bird …’ _

‘Oh my god,’ Rose muttered after a moment. ‘Four o’clock.’

They slow-danced a turn again, so the Doctor could see where Rose was indicating. There were Gwen and Rhys, with Rhys clearly struggling to move his two left feet. The Doctor laughed, and they resumed.

‘ _ That was there ... at my command, my love …’ _

The Doctor spotted Mickey and Martha next, together as he and Rose were. ‘Behind you.’

They slowly rotated, and Rose saw them together. ‘That’s so cute!’ she said, and turned her head on his chest so she was looking right. ‘Jack and Ianto!’

_ ‘The first time ... ever I lay with you, and felt your heart … so close to mine …’ _

They moved their slow dance once more, just in time for the Doctor to see Jack attempt some quite elaborate dance moves with his partner. Ianto nearly fell over. The Doctor laughed again.

_ ‘And I knew our joy … it would fill the Earth, and last … until the end of time, my love …’ _

The Doctor rested his chin on his wife’s head as they continued to move slowly, He tightened his arms so she was truly in his embrace, and in return she tightened her arms around him.

_ ‘The first time ... ever I saw your face, I thought the sun ... rose in your eyes …’ _

‘Can you feel that?’ Rose suddenly asked as they continued to move.

‘Yeah,’ he said, knowing exactly what she meant. The bond between them felt particularly responsive and sturdy, as if it was making itself stronger in the moment. For the first time in a very long time, he felt calm, collected, and completely at peace, just holding her, and his son.

_ ‘And the moon and the stars ... were the gifts you gave …’ _

‘Did I say I love you recently?’ he asked.

‘Not for five months,’ Rose said.

‘I love you,’ he said immediately.

‘Thanks,’ she replied, and they both laughed again.

_ ‘To the dark and the endless skies, my love …’ _

The song ended, and they stopped dancing. They kissed, as did everyone else, including Jackie and Brax, much to the Time Lord’s astonishment. As the Doctor and Rose stayed in each other’s embrace, Jack checked the clock.

‘Fifteen seconds till midnight,’ he announced. ‘Get ready!’

‘Ready for what?’ the Doctor asked Rose, confused.

She giggled. ‘New year countdown.’

‘Oh, yeah,’ the Doctor realised.

‘Ten! Nine!’ everyone shouted on Jack’s cue.

‘Ready?’ Rose asked.

‘Eight! Seven!’

‘Oh, this is the kiss thing, right?’ he supposed, just as a sudden sick feeling built in his stomach.

‘Six! Five!’ everyone continued.

‘Yeah,’ she replied, grinning at him.

‘Roesh, ah fell shtick,’ he said. For some reason his mouth had suddenly stopped working, he couldn’t get the words out, and he blinked, startled.

‘Four! Three!’

Rose frowned. ‘What?’

‘Ahkarn …’ he struggled.

‘Two!’

‘Doctor!?’ Rose asked, panicking a little.

‘One! Happy new year!’

The Doctor suddenly shrieked as the bullet train feeling hit him again ...

* * *

_ The Doctor groaned, and groggily raised his head. His head thumping, he waited until his vision sharpened and he registered his surroundings. It was a drab room, low-lit by one grotty little bulb hanging in the centre. The walls were stone, and the surface he was lying on was mud. Around him were pieces of abandoned furniture, old and dusty and gently rotting away. Rose was lying next to him, unconscious. _

_ 'Rose?’ he croaked, and immediately choked on the pure smell. It absolutely stank of petrol. He was also wet from head to toe, and so was Rose. _

_ He realised, with absolute horror, that he, Rose, and the entire room were absolutely covered in petrol.  _

_ He looked up, and saw for the first time that someone was standing in the shadows. He was about to say something, when that person reached down into their pocket, and pulled out something. Seconds later, there was a rip-like sound, and a single match lit up. _

_ The Doctor stared, horrified, as he realised who they were and what they were about to do. _

_ ‘No, you –’ _

* * *

‘Thete, talk to me,’ Brax’s voice implored.

The potent headache of before came back and the Doctor whimpered, keeping his eyes tightly closed for a moment before the headache went away. He finally opened his eyes, and found himself lying on the floor of Torchwood with Rose holding him, surrounded by everyone. They all looked terrified.

‘Wajudahpa?’ he asked, still struggling to form words.

‘What?’ Rose asked anxiously.

The Doctor tried again, but his mouth just wasn’t working. His words were coming out in incomprehensible slurs. ‘Judapha … Ahkar ...

‘He can’t talk, god, what happened!?’ Rose almost squeaked. 

‘Woeahnidooshieldoo …’

Brax placed his fingers on his brother’s temple. ‘Can you understand us?’

_ Yes. I just can’t talk. Nothing’s coming out right ... _

Brax nodded. ‘He can understand, he said he just can’t say things well at the moment,’ he told the others before looking back at the Doctor. ‘Did you have a future vision?’

_ Yes.  _

‘Okay,’ Brax said out loud to the others again. ‘He’s had a vision.’

‘Everyone stop crowdin’,’ Rose begged, still holding his head. Everyone obligingly backed off. ‘Doctor?’

‘Roesh,’ he said desperately. ‘Roesh. Ahdawuh …’

'Don't talk, just relax,’ she implored him, kissing his forehead, and looked at Brax. ‘What do we do? Do we scan him again? Maybe his brain’s hurt?’

‘Yes,’ Brax decided. 

* * *

The Doctor’s collapse had ended the party prematurely, and now everyone was now hovering around the infirmary despite trying to appear like they weren’t. Brax had shoved him straight into the scanner for a check of his brain. The Doctor was highly aware of the mutterings of the others saying he’d had some kind of stroke along with the lergri’s vision. As minutes of being unable to speak properly ticked by, he found himself fairly vulnerable and at the whim of his older brother. He stopped trying to talk, and instead just listened to Rose’s words of comfort, and the others whispering in the doorway. From their conversation, he could gather that he’d gone down like a sack of bricks and had been in a trance-like state for around twenty seconds.

Finally, Brax retrieved the scanner printout. ‘Nothing’s changed,’ he announced to everyone. ‘His brain’s still the same.’

‘But he can’t talk,’ Rose pointed out, near tears.

‘Thete?’ Brax prompted.

‘Am feelin’ bedder,’ the Doctor said.

‘Oh my god, he is,’ Rose said in delight, kissing him for about the forty-eighth time. ‘You’re gettin’ better.’

‘Sh’ok, I can shpeak bedder,’ he said. 

‘What the hell happened?’ Jack asked, frowning.

‘Thete, did you lose your speech with the last vision?’ Brax asked.

‘I din’t try,’ the Doctor replied. ‘Dunno.’

‘I think it may just be a side effect,’ Brax told the others.

‘You  _ think? _ Is it or isn’t it?’ Jackie wanted to know, hands on hips.

‘I’m just theorising,’ Brax said, hands in the air. ‘This is all we’ve got to go on. Thete, how did it feel before you collapsed?’

The Doctor dared to sit up, fingers on his temples. Rose continued to support him. ‘I feld sick, then I couldn’t shpeak, then I was on der floor,’ he said.

‘What was the vision?’

The Doctor didn’t particularly want to explain it in front of everyone, so he glanced at the crowd, and then looked at Brax. Brax got it immediately.

‘Actually, doesn’t matter,’ Brax said quickly, and looked at the others. ‘Everyone, he’s fine. Time to go.’

‘You gotta be kiddin’!’ Jackie protested. ‘My son-in-law ‘as ‘ad some kinda stroke and …’

‘He’s not had a stroke,’ Brax calmly interrupted her. ‘He’s got no brain damage, he’s fine. Please, enjoy your New Year’s.’

Jackie harrumphed, but eventually joined everyone else as they all petered out of the door.

Brax took a seat next to the bed. ‘What was the memory?’ he wondered.

‘In a house, a bashement, I think,’ the Doctor began, his speaking getting better with each word, ‘and I was on der floor, and you were too, Roesh,’ he said to her. ‘But you were unconshus, and … we were both covered in petchrol.’

Rose said at him, confused. ‘What?’

‘Then I looked up and shomeone was in the corner. They litta match.’

‘Then what?’ Rose asked. He could feel her panicking through the bond.

‘I dunno, I woke up,’ he said. 

‘Who was in the corner?’

The Doctor winced. ‘The Master.’

Rose’s face turned to thunder. ‘Oh my  _ god.  _ He’s gonna burn us!’

‘It might not be true,’ the Doctor said quickly.

‘The last one was,’ Brax pointed out.

‘But that doesn't make any sense!’ Rose said.

The Doctor looked at her. ‘Why not?’

She looked at him in return. 'I … Well, wasn’t he tryin’ to help?’

‘It wasn’t the Master that looked after Leah, this one had his old face,’ the Doctor said. 

‘What?’

‘The Harold Saxon one,’ the Doctor said. ‘Obviously, somewhere, somehow, he’s regenerated, and for some reason is being helpful in his new body. The new Master, he told me … He told me that something was going to hurt him more than it would hurt me. He wouldn’t say anything else.’

They all looked at each other, confused. Rose closed her eyes, biting her lip.

‘I think,’ Brax began, as calm as always, ‘we should explain to the others how your visions are going to work so they can be ready if you have another. Treat it like an epileptic fit.’

The Doctor nodded, getting up. ‘I’ll tell them.’

Brax nodded as the Doctor left. Rose made to follow him, but Brax caught her arm. ‘What do you know?’ he asked.

‘Nothin’,’ she replied quickly.

‘You know what Thete was talking about, don’t you?’

She disconnected her eyes from his. ‘Um, yeah. Sorta.’

‘What is it?’

‘When I was inside his mind trying to piece him together, I realised somethin’ …’

‘What?’

‘The body that the Doctor would’ve regenerated into was fighting us,’ Rose said. ‘So I knew his face. And the regenerated Master has the same face. The Master is in the Doctor’s next body.’

‘And Theta doesn’t know?’ Brax asked, frowning.

‘I don’t think he remembers the final fight with his next body; the one we had in his head,’ Rose said. ‘Else he’d pick up on that.’

‘But you haven’t told Theta?’ 

‘No,’ Rose replied, swallowing. ‘The Master said if I did then things would go wrong. Should I?’

Brax thought about that. ‘No,’ he decided. ‘Let’s just stay close to him.’

Rose nodded.


	24. New Job

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor is enthused about his new role at Torchwood. Jack receives a welcome surprise.

The next day, Rose found herself surplus to requirements as everyone staying in London moved their belongings out of the TARDIS. She could only stand there, being pregnant, watching everyone else do all the hard work of lifting and carrying. She became the official tea-maker for the day in an attempt to feel useful.

Once their belongings were out, everyone bid goodbye to one another, before the Doctor took her, Jack, Gwen, Ianto, Rhys, Anwen, Jackie, Tony, Leah and Kiana to Cardiff. They spent the day moving their possessions out of the TARDIS, exploring the new base and deciding how they were going to utilise it. The Doctor then made it his business to check up on everyone he’d met to make sure they were okay, and even paid a surprised Sarah a visit. He’d also had to go to the opticians to get a new pair of glasses, seeing as his were on a remote planet under soil.

Jack had attempted to throw another party, but he’d been mostly ignored by the group of very tired people. Everyone had then spent their last night in the TARDIS together, chatting about old times and enjoying each other’s company, before they all drifted to bed one last time.

Rose had become quite accustomed to having everyone around, so it was a strange feeling knowing it would only be her, the Doctor and Leah once more, at least, until Theo arrived. Otherwise, things felt oddly normal considering her husband had been dead for five months until yesterday. Everything was back into the standard routine. Tandem teeth-brushing, followed by a small competition to see who could change the fastest, and finally getting into bed together. The lights went off, and then, silence.

‘Hey, lie on your side,’ he said suddenly after a moment.

‘Why?’

‘Don’t you remember? After sixteen weeks of pregnancy, lying on your back isn’t a good idea because Theo will press on the vein that returns blood from the lower body to the heart and …’

‘Okay, okay,’ she interrupted, turning over towards him. It was dark, but she could see his face. The previous night they’d spent apart as the Doctor had been sorting out himself and the new calibrations to the TARDIS Brax had put in. It was the first time in what felt like forever she’d seen him like this. Instinctively, she reached out and brushed back some hair from his forehead.

‘What?’ he asked.

‘It’s just ... this is so weird, yeah?’

‘What?’ the Doctor asked again.

‘Two days ago I was so sad, and now I’m so happy,’ she said.

‘Oh. Again, deeply sorry for the whole death thing,’ he murmured.

She found herself giggling, and closed her eyes. ‘Only you. No, I mean, I … I spent so long alone in this bed and now you’re here and it’s … it’s such a good feelin’. It’s so cold without you.’

‘You’re welcome.’

‘I dunno why I haven’t smacked you yet, cos that’s how you made me feel. I was so sad and so worried for Theo and Leah. I thought I’d be doin’ it all on my own. And I hated you,  _ so  _ much. I hated that you’d left us like that. Then I was just sad. And now you’re here again it’s like everyone and everythin’ magically fixed, yeah? Me, Leah, Brax, Mum, Jack … everyone. We just all reset back to normal without even thinkin’ about it. It’s so weird. I think you make our world turn. You make mine turn, anyway. I’m so lucky to have you lyin’ here. I love you so much.’

There was a pause.

‘Doctor?’ she asked.

More silence.

She opened her eyes, and realised that somewhere in the middle of her speech, he’d fallen asleep. She smiled and edged towards him, trying to be careful so as not to wake him up. She pressed herself against him lightly, wrapped her arm around his neck, and closed her eyes.

Lucky. That was the word.

* * *

When Rose woke up, the Doctor wasn't there and his side was cold. For a moment she panicked and wondered if she’d completely dreamt his resurrection. She checked the clock, and to her complete astonishment, it was nearly 11:30am. He’d probably already got up.

A little rushed, she got dressed and made her way out of the door to the kitchen, but neither he or Leah were there. So instead she went out of the TARDIS into the rebuilt Torchwood Three, and finally saw her husband sitting at a desk of computers, spinning himself around in a swivel chair happily. He spotted Rose, and waved as he continued to spin.

‘Rose!’ he greeted.

‘Why didn’t you wake me up?’ she chastised. 

‘Pregnant women in the fifth month need eight to ten hours sleep,’ the Doctor informed her, still spinning around gleefully. 

‘Yeah, not so sure that applies to us when you’re the one gettin’ most of the symptoms,’ Rose told him.

The Doctor didn’t reply, still spinning. Rose caught the chair and he stopped, facing her. ‘What?’ he asked, bewildered.

‘What are you doin’?’

‘I have my own desk,’ he said, pointing behind him with his thumb. ‘Jack gave me my own desk. And I have a maneki-neko.’

‘A what?’

The Doctor pointed over his shoulder again to a Japanese golden plastic cat, waving its arm, standing next to a computer monitor. ‘Good luck cat.’

‘Oh, right.’ Rose smirked. ‘Proper office worker, now.’

The Doctor paused, looking at her, his face falling.

‘Did I say office worker?’ Rose began hastily. ‘I meant, um … er … what’s your title?’

‘Chief Consultant,’ he informed her. 

‘What’s that mean?’

‘People consult me about, um, chiefs. ... Office worker?’

‘Not office worker, Chief Consultant,’ she said quickly, and changed the subject before he could have a mood swing and take her down with him. ‘Where’s my mum?’ 

‘Jack took her and Tony to her new house, and took Kiana with him.’

‘Is it nice?’

He shrugged. ‘Doors and carpets, what’s not to like?’

She smiled. ‘Where’s Leah?’

‘London,’ the Doctor said.

‘Um, what?’

The Doctor gestured to his right. She looked to see a metal pod with a door, linked up to loads of wires. ‘I made the link between the Torchwoods. Just step in and hit the button.’ Rose made to move forward, but the Doctor quickly grabbed her arm. ‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t.’

Rose stopped, startled. ‘Um, what?’

‘It’s only capable of taking a single person, and, well, you know,’ he said, pointing at her belly. ‘You could transmat without … well, you get the idea.’

‘Oh my god,’ she muttered. ‘D’you mean …?’

‘Let’s just leave it at that, shall we?’ the Doctor proposed. ‘Just, you know, don’t use the transmat. I’m not completely sure that’s what’ll happen, but better safe than sorry.’

‘Um, okay,’ Rose muttered, a little terrified with a hand on her bump.

The Doctor grinned. ‘Sorry. Morning, by the way.’

‘Mornin’,’ she replied.

‘Can I get you anything?’

‘Nah, I’m fine.’

‘Any numbness in the hands?’

‘Um, no.’

‘Body aches? Itching? Heartburn? Bloating? Congestion? Dizziness?’

‘Doctor, I’m fine,’ she insisted.

‘Really? I’ve got all of those,’ the Doctor mused, rubbing his chest. He pushed himself upright, having to grab her to stop himself from falling over just as there was a beep, and a whooshing sound. Seconds later, Leah appeared in the transmat booth. She opened the door, beaming at her parents.

‘That was really fun!’ she told them.

‘Working well, then?’ the Doctor asked.

‘Yeah! Uncle Brax said hi, and to take your pregnancy stuff.’

The Doctor smiled. ‘Yeah, he would say that.’

‘Are we not going anywhere in the Tardis?’ Leah wondered.

‘Well, maybe once or twice, but we’ll be here otherwise,’ the Doctor said. 

‘Yeah, for at least four months,’ Rose said.

‘That’s like, ages,’ Leah realised. ‘What am I gonna do?’

‘Things’ll still be the same for you,’ Rose said. ‘Daddy will still teach you, same routine and everythin’. We're just gonna be workin’ with Uncle Jack a lot more and we're gonna be here most of the time.’

'Can I help you, Daddy?’ Leah asked eagerly.

'Yeah!’ the Doctor said. 'I'm going to need a top notch secretary with my new desk.’

'Yay!’ Leah said happily.

'I've talked to Uncle Jack and he said that you're completely free to roam around all of Torchwood. Just don't touch anything if you don't know what it is. Oh, and you can’t go through that door.’ He pointed at a nondescript door down some stairs to his left.

Leah immediately looked intrigued. ‘Why, what’s through that door?’

The Doctor smirked. ‘Terrible, terrible things.’

‘What kinda terrible things?’ the five-year-old wanted to know.

‘Terrible, evil, ugly, big things with sharp claws and massive teeth.’

‘Oh,’ Leah said, looking a bit scared.

‘But otherwise, all yours,’ the Doctor said.

‘Um, okay,’ Leah said, clearly trying to stop herself looking at the door. ‘Why are we staying here, anyway?’

‘We’re staying here until your brother’s born.’

‘Oh, okay!’ Leah said, and then immediately ran off to do some more exploring without another word.

‘So what’s through that door?’ Rose asked quickly, intrigued.

‘I told you, terrible, evil, ugly, big things with sharp claws and massive teeth,’ the Doctor insisted.

‘Um, yeah, I’m not five,’ she told him.

‘Oh, you think I’m kidding?’ the Doctor challenged, grinning.

Rose’s eyes widened. ‘What?’

The Hub door interrupted their conversation as Jack returned with Kiana in his arms. The nine-month-old clung onto him, her arms around his neck, burying her head into his shoulder as though letting go might kill her. 

‘Hey,’ Jack greeted Rose. ‘Sleep well?’

‘Yeah, thanks,’ Rose said, looking at them thoughtfully. ‘Is Mum happy?’

‘Very,’ Jack said. ‘Managed to get her a house this time, not a flat. She’s a ten minute walk away on Alice Street.’

‘Good,’ Rose said. ‘I’ll see ‘em later.’

‘Sorry, let me give your infant back,’ Jack said, moving forward to hand Kiana to the Time Lord. The moment Jack pulled her away from him she screamed, and began to cry.

‘Jesus!’ Jack exclaimed, pulling her back to him as her cries settled. ‘What was that about, Kiki?’

‘No wan,’ the little girl said. ‘Wan s’ay wif Da.’

‘But  _ he’s  _ your dad,’ Jack emphasised, pointing at the Doctor. 

‘No wan go, peas, Dadda!’ Kiana wailed.

‘Okay, look you can stay with me for a bit but then you gotta go back to Daddy, okay?’

Kiana’s tears worsened. The Time Agent comforted the little gallifreyan as best he could. He then looked up, and realised the Doctor and Rose were both staring at him. Jack frowned. ‘So … why’s everyone staring at me?’

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other. ‘Two seconds,’ the Doctor said to Jack with a smile, before he leant to Rose, turning away from the immortal. ‘Err, are you thinking what I’m thinking?’

‘I think I am,’ she said.

‘Like it?’

‘Yeah, sounds good to me,’ Rose replied.

‘Sure?’

‘Yeah. You sure?’

‘Definitely. You want to tell him or me?’

‘Oh, lemme do this one.’

‘Okay,’ the Doctor finished, and they both turned back to Jack.

‘Jack, d’you wanna adopt Kiana?’ Rose asked without a pause.

Jack stared at them, astonished. ‘What?’

‘Well, Kiana doesn’t like the Doctor much and she only just tolerates me, but she adores you. Maybe you could adopt her?’

‘I-I can’t do that,’ Jack stammered.

‘Of course you can,’ the Doctor assured him. 

‘Are you serious?’

‘Completely,’ the Doctor replied. ‘We think she’ll be happiest with you.’

‘I can’t look after her, are you crazy?’

‘Why not?’ the Doctor wanted to know. 

‘There’s … I mean … Where’s she gonna live?’

‘There’s loads of spare rooms here,’ the Doctor pointed out, gesturing around with his hand. ‘Plenty of space.’

‘I don’t know anything about gallifreyan kids,’ Jack said next.

‘You’ve managed Leah pretty well,’ the Doctor pointed out.

‘But that’s not … I mean …’

‘Jack,’ Rose began, stepping forward, ‘you wanna adopt her or not?’

Jack looked between them. ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this. This is insane.’

‘Nothing insane about it,’ the Doctor assured him. 

Jack swallowed. ‘Okay, okay,’ he said. ‘But you’re not being relegated. You can be dad as well. And Rose, you’re mum.’

The Doctor and Rose simultaneously shrugged, nonchalant. ‘We’ll be here every day anyway,’ Rose pointed out. ‘Hey,’ she began again, looking between the Time Lord and the Immortal. ‘What if she had loads of parents?’

‘What?’ Jack asked, still stupefied.

‘Like, not just us. Everyone in Torchwood. She can have loads of parents who love her. If they’re up for it, of course, she can call everyone mum or dad if she wants, yeah?’

The Doctor nodded. ‘I like it.’

‘Geez,’ Jack muttered, running his hand through the girl’s raven black hair. 

‘Anythin’ you need, we’re here,’ Rose said. ‘You’ve done so much for us, Jack. Let us do somethin’ for you and make a little girl really happy at the same time.’

‘This is a pretty big kind of something,’ he croaked. 

‘When it comes down to it, she’s the Master’s daughter,’ the Doctor said. ‘She needs to feel happy, safe, and loved to avoid becoming anything like him. Look at her now she’s got you.’

Everyone did. She was clinging to Jack’s neck again, perfectly content. 

‘Well,’ Jack finally said, swallowing. ‘I need some parenting books. It’s been a while.’

‘Tardis library, progenation section, sub-section five, shelf six,’ the Doctor said, stepping aside to allow Jack passage into the TARDIS. ‘Have fun.’

Jack nodded, steeled himself, hugged the both of them in turn and disappeared inside.

‘Love a happy ending,’ Rose said, watching him as he disappeared.

The Doctor smiled broadly. ‘All too rare,’ he said, and looked at her belly. ‘You must be hungry.’

‘Starvin’,’ she confessed.

‘Lunch,’ he decided. ‘You need omega 3 and iodine.’

‘Do I?’

‘You need six ounces of grains, two point five cups of vegetables, one to two cups of fruit, and five ounces of meat and beans everyday. Let’s have sardines on toast with scrambled eggs and fruit salad,’ he decided.

‘Um, okay,’ she said.

He hugged her. ‘I’ve got a really good feeling,’ he confessed.

She smiled. ‘Happy, now?’

‘Very happy,’ he said. ‘I think these next few months are going to be great.’

‘Molto bene,’ Rose surmised.

He beamed. ‘Eccellente.’

They kissed for a very long time, only stopping when they were interrupted by a five-year-old’s voice saying, ‘ewww!’

‘Problem?’ the Doctor wondered, looking down at his daughter.

‘I’m hungry!’ she complained.

‘Okay, okay,’ the Doctor said, picking her up. ‘Lunch is this way.’

They disappeared inside the TARDIS. For a moment Rose just stood there, turning to look at the new Torchwood. There on the Doctor’s desk was the good luck cat, its arm continually waving back and forth.

She smiled, turned, and followed her family inside the TARDIS.

**To be continued...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A happy ending? That almost never happens! :P
> 
> As always, thank you for your kind attention - I'm continuously stupefied that people care to read, and I'm especially thankful to those who leave comments to let me know you're there. Have a cookie, everyone! :D
> 
> If you're new to this whole Destiny universe and would like to know more without reading nearly 1 million words (yes, really), go to this series' page and there's a little link there which'll take you to a document with extended summaries, as well as containing links to my gallifreyan dictionary and the Destiny universe timeline I use to try and keep my sanity on track in a world of constant time travel. Though forewarning, it obviously contains summaries for stories not yet posted on AO3 so don't scroll down too far if you don't wanna know.
> 
> Next one is called 'The Ten Keys of the Moirai', and it's a pretty epic saga-length space swashbuckling adventure that attempts to tie up a lot of lose strands, here's the summary:
> 
> While the Doctor and Rose are working for Jack’s Torchwood, a dying alien seeks him out, begging for help. Someone is finding the fabled Keys of the Moirai. The Doctor and his friends must embark on the greatest treasure hunt ever known, as the rumoured prize is to become the immortal ruler of the Universe, and who knows who's about to claim it?


End file.
